Squamish Elementary will be getting a minor makeover.
It is anticipated that the school, along with one in Whistler, will not be able to hold the projected number of students based on its current configuration.
The most recent count at Squamish Elementary went up by 39, while Whistler’s Myrtle Philip Community School went up by 26.
For the Squamish school, the work will allow it to take on an extra class without major renovations or portables, saving a significant amount of money.
At present, one room at the school is divided into learning centre, with temporary walls dividing the space. These will be taken out, a move that already fits in with the district’s vision for class space.
Director of facilities and service Rick Hume said the idea is to work “in collaboration rather than isolation.”
He describes the change as more reconfiguration than renovation. He expects the space in question, which was once a classroom, to be used as a multi-purpose room, freeing up the room currently being used as multi-purpose space to house an extra class.
The work will cost relatively little. Hume estimates it will be about $10,000, as opposed to the estimated $250,000 needed to set up a portable classroom.
The money is coming from capital project surplus funds left over from summer work at the former Stawamus Elementary building.
The plan is to have the project done before the end of June so that teachers can get a sense of the layout of the rooms before going back into classrooms next September.
At the Dec. 9 board meeting, superintendent Lisa McCullough said the work could happen over spring break or possibly on weekend time.
The number of students is growing due to the introduction of early French immersion at the school, along with its late French immersion program. Hume said that once these younger students catch up to the late French immersion program in a few years, the school’s enrolment should level off.
“We see this as a temporary thing,” he said. “We’re predicting we need it for three years.”
To lessen demand on space at the school, the early learning centre has moved to space being leased from Sea to Sky Community Services. “Because the school is near capacity, we’ve moved the StrongStart out,” Hume said.
Myrtle Phillips Community School is also adding a classroom without any major work required. In this case, the school has a small computer lab that is being reconfigured for a class. Hume said it is a sign of the times, as schools are moving toward smaller laptops and tablets with computer-on-wheels labs known COWs, as opposed to the traditional labs with fixed desktop computers that require rooms of their own.
“We’re decommissioning them,” Hume said.
