Whitney Institute will have a multi-purpose assembly hall by the new school term, making it one of the first high schools on its way to becoming a middle school.

But principal Gail Graham yesterday revealed that it took threats from the school's board of trustees to get the building.

"The board of trustees said either you build us a hall or we're not going to be a middle school.'' Chairman of the school's board Jack Outerbridge was off the Island yesterday.

But Works and Engineering Minister Leonard Gibbons has promised that Whitney's assembly hall will be ready by September.

"The big problem is the construction industry has started to heat up,'' Mr.

Gibbons said. "We will need to carefully phase the (restructuring) work.'' But Mrs. Graham admitted that she was not "precisely happy'' with news that the assembly hall will be ready in September.

"We were promised an assembly hall since 1972,'' she recalled. "They began building two years and it was originally supposed to be completed in February.'' She noted that when it rains the school is unable to hold assemblies which are normally held outdoors.

And she pointed out that prizegivings and graduation ceremonies had to be held in rented facilities.

Mrs. Graham said the lack of an assembly hall has also meant that students have been deprived of hearing some "dynamic and motivational'' speakers at the school.

"We had promised the last graduating class that they would be the first to graduate in the building,'' she added. "But that was when we thought it would be ready by April. Then in May we were told that it would not.

"I will be delighted when it (work on the assembly hall) finishes. Two years of construction in the middle of a school is not good.'' The new building will be able to be divided into three sections and used for a variety of functions.

In addition to being used as an assembly hall, Mrs. Graham said the building can also be used as a cafeteria and for courses in the arts.

"We're looking at having a drama programme,'' she said. "We're also looking forward to have prizegivings and graduations at the school.'' The school's PTA is planning to launch a major fundraising drive to raise money for its music department and necessary equipment.

"So we're hoping to hold dances in that very building,'' Mrs. Graham added.

Noting that Whitney's buildings were extremely old, she said the school will also need renovation.

New locker rooms, bathrooms and other internal renovations will have to be in place for the middle school, she explained.

"Yes we can do without these things,'' she added. "But I feel strongly we have to make these middle schools work.

"The date I keep hearing is 2002. I don't think that students should have to wait until then. My main complaint is that it is taking so long.

"All of us know this new system will be good for our kids.'' Mrs. Graham also noted that middle school principals had already started using some middle school teaching methods within schools.

"We are doing this,'' she added, "because we know how important it is to save those students within the existing system.'' Facilities coordinator for the Implementation Team at the Education Department Bob Winters said the first stage of converting existing high schools to middle schools will primarily involve internal renovations and had to be completed by September of next year.

"One of the most important things will be the design and technology area because that (middle school) programme will be much more advanced and revamped from the mechanics and woodwork area which exist in schools,'' Mr. Winters said.

He explained that work on designated middle schools -- Whitney, St. George's Secondary, Dellwood, Warwick Secondary, and Sandys Secondary -- will be carried out simultaneously.

"But,'' he pointed out, "some schools will require more work than others.

For example, St. George's Secondary is in good shape and will need less work.

"Dellwood, because that is a designated school for full accessibility, will have more work done between now and 1997.'' Once the middle school programme is in place, new construction work will be carried out at the middle schools.