Band, orchestra members await temporary lockers

By Alex Wyckoff
Staff Writer

Due to Measure BB Phase III of construction, band and orchestra students were forced out of their lockers on Dec. 20 and continue to wait for the arrival of temporary lockers.

According to Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale, the temporary lockers are expected to arrive within the next few weeks and will be placed around the small gym, where the temporary band classroom is now located.

“I think the band and orchestra students are really trying to keep things positive,” Costa Vice Principal Ian Drummond said. “This shows how they can really band together when it is needed.”

According to Vice Principal Deborah Hofreiter, the administration’s original plan was to relocate the band hall lockers to the small gym. But the construction company in charge of the project, Bernards Brothers Incorporated, evaluated the band hall building and determined that removing the lockers from the old building would damage the lockers and render them unusable.

“It is not ideal, as the students lost their home,” Hofreiter said. “It is only temporary. They are displaced, but they will be back in 2015 when all construction is supposed to be over.”

After learning lockers would not be provided for during the weeks immediately following break, band members signed a petition to pressure the administration to devise a solution.

“We were given notes by the administration that stated they thought it was best to wait it out until the band hall was renovated,” senior Tony Ngyuen said. “We would like it if the administration communicated with us better. Students would be less upset if they could prepare for situations like these ahead of time.”

Phase III will keep the band hall under construction for the rest of the 2013-14 school year, but it will be reopened to students in December of 2014.

“I’ve spent the vast majority of my lunches in the band hall,” senior Jessica Flohn said. “While being uprooted and having to cope without a locker may be a bit of a burden, I know that future band kids will benefit from the inconveniences that we have to deal with now.”