STUDENTS, teachers and employees at Caledonia Secondary School are going to have a little more room to manoeuvre thanks to a new storage container set to house gym equipment at the school.
The Coast Mountains School District voted to buy a storage container this week, after hearing that the need for one was not included when Grade 10 students were added to the Grade 11 and 12 school this fall.
Extra gym equipment was sent over from Thornhill Junior Secondary School when the district closed it this spring, but there was no provision made to store it, said school district facilities director John Garossino.
The container is 10'x20' and will be purchased secondhand at a cost of $6,040 plus taxes. It is portable and can be removed if it is no longer needed. A new one would cost approximately 50 per cent more, according to the school board.
The school bought a similar container, used to store small engines and equipment for the Grade 10 technology programs, this summer.
Right now, gym equipment is spread out in different locations throughout the school, said Caledonia athletics director Keith Axelson.
“We've got it stored in various places. Most of our big items are taking up space in the equipment room and in the hallways down by the change rooms,” he said.
The upcoming purchase has good timing, coinciding with the opening of Cal's new climbing gym, which happened last Friday.
“We need to reconfigure our equip room as it is and add shelving and things,” Axelson said. “Some of the bigger pieces of equipment we have for our new climbing wall and our plyometric boxes and all of those big items are basically taking up the room that we could use to add some additional storage inside of our gym.”
The container should arrived within the month.
“We don't have a lot of flexibility within our walls to make changes, because we're made of brick,” Axelson said. “It's not ideal, but at least it allows us to free up some space."