Students, parents and staff are keeping up the push to have glass walls at New Westminster Secondary School covered up for safety and privacy.
The push to have glass walls covered — either using blinds or by frosting the glass — has been ongoing since the new high school opened in January 2021, sporting a modern design that includes classrooms grouped around interior "learning commons" spaces, with glass walls looking in.
Students, parents and teachers have raised concerns about the glass walls, saying they distract students, raise privacy issues and could compromise safety in the event of a lockdown.
That message continued on Tuesday night (April 25), as the New Westminster school board heard 2023/24 budget submissions from unions and the district parent advisory council.
Laura Kwong, DPAC chair, reiterated the parent group's concern that the glass-walled classrooms make students feel "on display."
"Students that don't feel safe in school cannot effectively learn and develop as they should be able to," she said.
DPAC rep Kathleen Carlsen said all the classroom windows should be fully frosted.
"We know that learning and growing is absolutely impossible if you don't feel safe and welcome first," she said.
A proposal for frosted glass on the classroom walls was also put forward by the Student Voice group from NWSS.
Kristie Oxley, president of the New Westminster Teachers' Union, also added her voice to the call. She noted she's spoken quite a bit in the past about the need for blinds in the event of lockdowns and said frosted glass would be a good alternative.
"It would provide students and staff with that feeling of safety, and it would eliminate the need to deploy blinds in the unfortunate event of a lockdown," she said.
Budget submissions from School District 40 stakeholders, along with the results of public surveys, will be used to help form the superintendent's recommendations to the board. Superintendent Karim Hachlaf will bring those recommendations to the operations committee meeting May 2, as the board prepares to approve the district's 2023/24 budget by the end of May.
