November 3, 2025
Dear Burlington Community,
I am proud to let you know that the BHS/BTC project remains on budget and on track to open for school next year. If you haven’t driven down North Ave. or taken a look at our time-lapse video recently, you should!
Earlier this year, we began offering staff, students, district leaders, and partners the opportunity to tour the space. The reactions have been overwhelming, and I am excited to be less than a year away from giving our students, staff, and the community a high school designed with their input and designed to serve students for at least the next 50 years. I’m looking forward to opening more tours to the public, and we think we will be able to do this in the late spring or early summer…stay tuned. In the meantime, please find more information below and, as always, please feel free to reach out with any questions.
Tom
BONUS CONTENT! BTC Opens Aviation, Career, and Technical Education Center! Students, staff, and community partners were on hand to celebrate the grand opening of Burlington Technical Center’s new Aviation, Career, and Technical Education Center in South Burlington last week! The $12 million project completely renovated a nearly decrepit airplane hangar at Burlington International Airport. Made possible through a $10 million grant secured by then-Senator Patrick Leahy, BSD has completed the major renovation under budget. Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to open this new facility, and special thank you to Director Reed, Property Services Director Lyall Smith, and all the BTC teachers who helped us get into the space, and to Moses Daly and Jason Cooper for have the vision and goal to make this a reality! Check out all the photos on our website.
BHS/BTC Budget – As mentioned above, the project remains on budget. More importantly, every day, it is looking more like we will not have to borrow the full $165 million that voters approved for the project. We still don’t know if we will be just under the number or if savings will be more substantial, but we are hoping to have a more solid estimate by the end of 2025. Our team has worked hard to make sure we are being good stewards of taxpayer resources, and I am grateful that they are taking this work seriously while also delivering on incredible learning spaces!
Recent Videos – (the full list can be found on the BHS/BTC Project website)
Skylight Install!
How to Install Lighting in a Room that is 50 Feet Tall
Staff Get a First Look Inside the Building
One Year Until Opening… Landscaping, Paving, and Windows!
Crank Up Scaffolding
Flooring – The gym floors and other specialty floor installations have started. We put our COVID collection of large dehumidifiers to good use to bring the moisture content of the concrete floors into the proper range for the flooring installation.
Lockers – Locker designs and locations have been selected and are beginning to get installed!
EV Charging Stations – We have 18 charging stations ready to install, and have the electrical capacity on site to double the number of charging stations in the future if needed. We are using ChargePoint chargers, which are well-known in our area.
Solar and LEED – We will be working with SunCommon to install a 222kWdc (150kWac) rooftop solar system. The cost of the solar was not included in our project costs, and we have been managing this separately. Funding for this will come from rebates provided by Burlington Electric Department (BED)for installing energy-efficient products as part of our project. We are also reaching out to the VT Bond Bank to discuss the process to apply for additional Domestic Content tax credit. As a reminder, we are pursuing LEED certification of the building and we remain hopeful that we will receive GOLD designation.
Art for New BHS/BTC We have been receiving some requests from the community to donate art to the new BHS/BTC site, both inside and outside the building. After connecting with a few other new high schools in other states and with folks at BHS, the consistent feedback is that we should wait a year prior to considering how to add adult-created art to the school. We have items that were in the former building that will be displayed again, and we will be adorning the walls with student-created work. During this school year, we will form a small committee to develop criteria for determining how we will consider offers of donated art for the building. During the 26/27 school year, we will then form a small committee that will apply this criteria for considering offers of donated art.
Landscaping – We have grass growing in some of the finished landscaped areas! Some of the areas will be replanted with a low-growing grass that will not require mowing; this strategy will be used on the steep bank areas.
Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment (FF&E)/BHS Move-in Taskforce – EEI, who did great work on the IAA project, is working with Exterus furniture to draft a contract. The BHS Move-In task force have reviewed potential value engineering items at their next meeting to make sure we are balancing the desires for all new equipment along with the desire to keep costs lower for taxpayers. The AV design team has also been meeting with our AV installer and staff members to begin to understand our new AV systems!
Photos from October Tour
