City Council Celebrates Public High School Renovation

Cambridge Rindge and Latin School celebrated the progress made on its renovation during a special session in the Cambridge City Council yesterday.

Joining the Council in the roundtable discussion were teachers, school administrators, alumni, and student parents of CRLS, who nodded and clapped as City Councilors took turns congratulating the progress in the school’s renovation.

Amongst other accomplishments, the renovation team has managed to construct new ceilings, buy new furniture and computers, and repaint the exterior of the buildings while keeping its expenditure within the 112 million dollar budget limit so far, according to Deputy City Manager Rich Rossi.

“As a community we are really proud of what’s going on at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School,” said Mayor David P. Maher. “Those kids [in CRLS] are truly excited about those buildings and the pride in those buildings is extraordinary.”

However, the renovation is still far from complete, Rossi said.

“Although we have finished on time, there are continuing [construction] issues to deal with,” said Rossi, who listed administrative offices and the cafeteria as buildings to renovate in the near future.

The rest of the renovations are scheduled to be completed by the end of this school year, according to a website CRLS specially built to highlight the renovation.

After the construction work is completely finished, the school will organize a celebration that stretches over 10 months, from September next year to June 2012, with events such as alumni guest lectures, dance exhibitions, and music exhibitions taking place every month.

The result of the merger of Rindge Technical School and Cambridge Latin high school in 1977, CRLS is a comprehensive high school with 1,586 students and 179 staff members, according to its website.

CRLS is located approximately half a mile east of Harvard Yard, on Broadway.

—Staff writer Sirui Li can be reached at sli@college.harvard.edu.