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NS is constructing a new office to improve the school for both the faculty and students. While waiting for future benefits of the office, it has caused some current problems. The main problems come from the unavailability of the main parking lot area.
Because the parking lot is being used for room for construction workers and equipment, students have to park farther away from the school, there is less parking on the faculty side, and buses have changed where they pick up students.
In addition to those problems, the new route for buses now has to go across a highly trafficked spot in order to drop off students. Many students now park north of the school in the parking lot near Mt. Pleasant elementary school, and students have to cross where buses pass.
“Now you’ve got buses going through a crosswalk that has more traffic now,” Vice Principal Ryan Syme said. “That has caused a problem.”
While this crosswalk is now considered a problem, there aren’t any incidents that have occurred at this crosswalk yet.
In addition to problems outside of the parking lot, the unavailability of the parking lot could be seen as an issue as well.
“I think [the unavailable parking lot] is a little inconvenient for us all, but I wouldn’t consider that an issue,” Principal Christine Straatman said.
The construction can be seen as inconvenient because of the noise levels. The construction can be heard throughout the school and is especially loud in the auditorium. This has made the school’s musical practices increasingly more difficult.
According to a recent NS Times survey, when asked on a scale of 1-10 how frustrating the new construction on the office is, only 10.1 percent of students answered with a 10. On the other hand, 31.4 percent of students answered with a 1.
“I think I will feel safer with this new office, it’s just waiting for them to finish building it,” senior Vernon Barsic said.
The current timeline of the construction has the new office being fully ready by the time NS comes back from Christmas break. While this is the current timeline, it is subject to change and could take longer depending on if the construction workers run into any problems along the way.
“The office is supposed to be finished at the end of December with us being able to move into that new area in January when we return from Christmas break,” Straatman said.
While the construction of the main office has been a point of concern among some, the benefit of the office once finished may be worth the wait and worth the inconveniences.
“I think anytime we can put money or energy or resources to making our school safer, I think it is well worth it,” Straatman said.
