A parent from Basinview Drive Community School in Bedford said she was shocked and disgusted to see the condition of two portable classrooms that were brought to the school this week.
“We were a little livid that they would take something that looks like it got hauled from a dumpster and put it on site,” said Trish Myer.
“There was rotting wood, mould, broken windows… and we just didn’t feel like the safety of our children was put into mind when they dragged them here.”
Myer said with just three weeks left before the beginning of the new school year, she, along with other parents in the area, are concerned there isn’t enough time to properly renovate the units and is concerned about “Band-Aid solutions.”
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“The main concern here is not the kids being in a portable — we understand that that is a necessity at the time,” Myer said.
“It’s that they’re safe, they’re in well-ventilated areas with good heating and stuff like that.”
The two portable classrooms were delivered to the school overnight on Tuesday and a construction crew could be seen working on the two units on Thursday.
Doug Hadley, a spokesperson with the Halifax Regional School Board, said it’s typical to move these types of units to their location prior to doing any sort of renovations.
“We knew that they weren’t suitable for occupancy in the state of repair that they were in when we moved them,” Hadley said, adding the units will undergo a number of renovations over the next few weeks.
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That will include removing and replacing rotting wood, making the classrooms accessible, installing a new ventilation system and general cleaning of the units.
“We would never put students or staff into a building we didn’t think was safe,” Hadley said.
“Whether it be a temporary structure like a portable or a permanent structure like a school, if it wasn’t safe for people to be in it, we wouldn’t put them in it.”
Hadley said the real issue in the Bedford/Hammond’s Plains area is the need for new infrastructure. Madeline Symonds Middle School and Hammonds Plains Consolidated School also have portable classrooms.
“We’ve made, through our governing board, a number of requests to the province over the years for new schools,” Hadley said.
“Would we like to not have any portables? Absolutely. But they are a temporary requirement we need, otherwise the school would be bursting at the seams.”
Classes begin on September 8.
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