A four-week, $100,000 upgrade for the Caversham special education school meant administration staff now had space to carry out their work.
Offices, storage and a medical room were among the changes.
Dunedin National Party list MP Michael Woodhouse marvelled at the "contrast between the old and the new".
"This needed to happen," he said.
However, the rest of the school remained in a dilapidated state as attempts to secure funding for an upgrade continued to fail.
While principal Raewyn Alexander believed a redevelopment would have to start from scratch, at the very least a second paraplegic toilet, hoisting unit and storage rooms were required.
The board of trustees was working on a long-term plan, as requested by the Ministry of Education, which was due in March.
Mr Woodhouse expressed his intention to use what influence he had "to keep Sara Cohen in the mind's eye" with the ministry and "keep pushing for a solution".
"If this was a school for able-bodied kids, it would have been approved [for funding] a long, long time ago."
