The library at Howe Sound Secondary is going to look a little different this September.
As a way to accommodate the large number of students entering the school next year, the SD48 has announced the library will be renovated to make way for two additional classrooms.
“At Howe Sound Secondary School, we recognise that we needed some additional classroom space, because we want to ensure that we're providing the best possible learning environments for our students,” SD48 Supt. Chris Nicholson said at the March 12 regular board meeting.
“We went through a number of scenarios, including what we thought was an easy move of ... one or two portables [to the site] that we thought would meet our needs. However, we were made aware of new bylaws and requirements from the municipality of Squamish in terms of flood mitigation, and the costs to meet those needs were untenable for us. I will just say [they] were probably at least three times the cost that we were anticipating.
“So ... we decided the best course of action would be to renovate the Howe Sound library and be able to put in some temporary walls to provide us with two additional classrooms, while at the same time maintaining more than 50% of the space.”
Nicholson said the renovations will also allow for new flooring in the library.
“One of the things we think we're going to be able to do is whole new flooring for the entire library, where we have very old carpet, and some other not so nice surfaces. So just that conversion alone is going to make that a much more welcoming, bright, clean and hygienic place,” he said.
While the transformation of the library is expected to be temporary, Nicholson said that it could last a little longer than planned.
“I think this is the best we can do moving forward. And I do want to assure the public that your board has not stopped in their advocacy with the Ministry of Education and the BC government for ensuring that the top priority and ask of the ministry is funding for the seismic upgrade combined with the expansion of Howe Sound Secondary School,” he said.
“So we see this as a temporary measure, but I also want to be transparent, the temporary we know in government and in schools can sometimes be a little bit longer than we would hope for.”
The renovations are expected to be completed in time for the students' return to school in September with minimal impact.
An important decision
SD48 trustee Celeste Bickford said that the decision to renovate the library was initially discussed in camera prior to being made public at the meeting.
“The decision to utilize the library for classroom space is not a decision that was made lightly by either staff or the board's input that was provided,” Bickford said.
“But given the environment of limited resources that we're working with and the difficult decisions that had to be made around how to accommodate the large number of students, this bubble of kids that are coming into Howe Sound, the building really is bursting at the seams.”
Bickford wanted to reassure parents and students that the walls in the library will be temporary.
“It may not have been apparent today, but the walls that will be put up are temporary. They can be taken down and reused to reconfigure other places ... if the numbers in the school go down again in the future, that space will go back to being completely a library space, but it will be preserved for the time being,” she said.
“So we value our library. We are very, very thankful for our librarian, and that space will continue to be utilized by students as a library.
“But this was the result of a difficult decision that had to be made in light of the large number of students that we have entering the school next year.”
