Chandler High School gets culinary, cafeteria upgrades

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

Half of a major set of upgrades at the district’s oldest high school was approved by the Chandler Unified Governing Board at an April 22 meeting.

The board unanimously approved a $3.65 million contract with McCarthy Building Companies for Chandler High School career and technical education culinary arts and a few cafeteria renovations.

CUSD Assistant Superintendent Tom Dunn said while the CHS cafeteria and the culinary arts classroom are in different buildings, it still makes sense to have one general contractor oversee both sets of renovations, which will be McCarthy.

The $3.65 million contract covers McCarthy overseeing remodel of nearly all the interior space CHS devotes to culinary arts. A long list of improvements will specialize and create “state of the art” quality for students, a staff report states.

“The CTE culinary arts classroom was constructed in the early 2000s and needs updating to meet current industry standards,” the report states. “These renovations will include updating the current back of house cooking facilities and converting a classroom to an industry standard in front of the house that will allow instruction to address current CTE technical standards for culinary arts.”

In February, the board approved a contract to make $750,000 in culinary classroom upgrades at Basha High School and $770,000 for the same at Casteel High School.

While the cafeteria design is underway, reports state, the culinary arts design and construction documents are complete and staff would like to begin construction this summer.

McCarthy will use a long list of subcontractors on the culinary arts phase, as the highly specialized classroom will require everything from acoustical ceilings and treatments to fireproofing.

Dunn explained there will be three contracts working off of a 2025 bond-fund budget of $8 million.

The contract includes the $75,000 purchase of an elevator for the cafeteria renovations, with an apparent long lead time in the industry now for elevator orders.
The board is set to meet on Wednesday, May 7.

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INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.