Over the summer BBCHS was going through some new building renovation and changes. Along with the new air conditioning system added in the upper East and South halls, students were surprised to find a brand-new all accessible hallway in the south wing, which includes a ramp and a new classroom. The South hallway has never been accessible for disabled students, but this year that’s all changed.
Originally this new ramp wasn’t in the plans for the new renovations. BBCHS’s architect/planner threw in the idea that making the hallways ADA accessible would make it easier for all the students whose classes are in the South hallways. In the past, if a student became temporarily unable to use stairs, an entire class would be moved to another location. According to Mr. Chris Hammond, BBCHS Chief School Business Official, “The South hallway and the 2nd-floor East hallway have never been ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible. They were built prior to the building code requiring them to be ADA-accessible. So, when we had an opportunity to make them accessible with the installation of the ramps, we could not say no.” This is just one example of improvements BBCHS is trying to make around the building for students and staff members.
In reality, this new renovation is either a hit or miss due to the high traffic of large amounts of students. A hallway can only fit so many people at once. Even though it did make a little more walking room for the students at BBCHS to pass through, it still caused a jam in the west wing staircase that wasn’t as highly trafficked as before. One BBCHS student claims, “With students pushing and shoving to get to each other classes the halls are over crowded in this area, the new hallway brought more attention to students as a quicker route to class, only to cause more backed up space.” As staff and students agree on the situation, Mr. Hammond, BBCHS Administrator has also mentioned, “It still presents some issues with the volume of students we have in the building and the width of the hallway. This is not the only area where we have hallways that are not large enough for the volume of students walking through them.” The effects of the new hallways have definitely gained the attention of everyone in the building this year.
Although that is the most noticeable change, the South wing’s renovations didn’t just stop at the hallway; a few South classrooms had edits made to them, and a few rooms were made smaller. According to Ms. Brooke Peterson, a BBCHS English teacher in the South hallway, “Smaller classrooms are always less conducive to meeting student needs.” Ms. Peterson was one of the teachers affected by this new renovation, but she enjoys the new upgrades in the classrooms even if her classroom size was trimmed a little, “The new hallway has taken some time to get used to, however, the updates to the walls, outlets, lighting, floors, etc. has been nice, and getting air conditioning has been a game changer.” Overall, there are more good things that are being reciprocated with the school’s update.
Some other little upgrades students have found around the school include new vending machines serving breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Along with some new policy changes that affect open campus lunch, tardies, and Boiler Block. As always, where there is change there is going to be a positive and negative view of each side of the story; it’s all about the perspective.
