FERRIDAY — Huntington School in Ferriday may have closed down last May, but students and teachers have been filling its halls since the beginning of January.

The former private school is now housing Central Louisiana Technical College, Shelby Jackson Campus while construction on the renovation and expansion project at the campus is getting ready to begin.

Campus Dean Mignonne Ater said Central Louisiana Technical College faculty and administration have been at the campus since Jan. 3, and students began their spring semester classes at Huntington Jan. 13.

“The building has been modified some to meet our needs,” she said. “It has been going extremely well here. We have had adequate space and no complaints.”

Ater said Central Louisiana Technical College plans on staying at Huntington for approximately 12-15 months during construction.

The construction project is set to expand and renovate buildings A, B and C on the campus, Ater said.

“Building A we are expanding. The expansion will more than double the square footage of the building, adding around 13,000 square feet,” she said.

Ater said building B will have much needed renovations and upgrades during construction, along with converting some existing space into a multipurpose room that will seat approximately 300 people.

Building C will receive some general remodeling work, Ater said.

Ater said construction on the expansion and renovation project should be starting in the next two to three weeks.

“There is no definite date yet,” she said. “The contract is being awarded this week, and we look to have the groundbreaking followed by the construction to begin shortly after that.”

While the majority of the students are meeting at Huntington, Ater said the welding and building technology specialist programs remain at the campus to have access to necessary educational equipment.

“The remodeling of that building will have to be scheduled around the semester courses.”

Ater said the 225 students enrolled for the spring semester will benefit greatly from the move to Huntington.

“Moving the classes to Huntington was a very positive thing for us,” she said. “If we would have had to stay at the campus, we would have had to deal with parking, noise and safety issues that we don’t have to worry about at Huntington.”