Mahone Bay Old School_A Life and Times_Bob Sayer

The Writing On The Wall: A New School Needed
It was clear that the old school just was not able to supply adequate facilities for
400 students needing a new millennium education. There were fundamental
old-building problems of roofing, ventilation and heating. There wasn’t the
room or structure for enough toilets with the proper ventilation. There were
deep-seated problems of water and decay damage. Old roofs and windows
were leaking. Old walls, particularly in the “new” wing and toilet floors [in old
wing] were permanently damaged. Ancient pipes were corroding. Floor tiles
were constantly lifting.
The school was extremely expensive and uneconomic to maintain and heat,
particularly the old wing, with its high ceilings and huge open attic. There was
inadequate storage space, everywhere.
There was a constant battle to meet modern regulations for fire [stairwells]
and public health [lighting and sanitation]. There was no room for a modern
cafeteria, gym, stage, library-resource, computer, music/band and other specialist
areas.
The school had plenty of life in it, but not for four hundred students and modern
requirements. It had been designed for 1914 and the 1960s, not the 21st
century.
So Mahone Bay old school continued with Vim and Vigour until the district
school board was able to take advantage of the burst in new school building of
the late 1990s when the provincial government committed itself to P3 schools,
where the enormous capital costs were undertaken by private companies-who
then leased the schools to the government.
The district board and the provincial government agreed the Mahone Bay-
Blockhouse area was top priority for a new school.
Thus Bayview Community school was conceived and born.
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