In 1903 Curtis High School did not have multiple buildings. There was no cafeteria, no library and of course nothing beyond the auditorium. The school also could only accommodate able-bodied students.
As the school grew in size, students with disabilities had even more obstacles to overcome.
The cafeteria, the library, the 36’ wing and even the rooms above the cafeteria were built without any consideration for students or staff who have physical impairments.
The credit for introducing actual accessibility belongs to the 2017 update and addition, “Since this building is so old a lot of places were not ADA compliant, so I’d say in the past 10 to 15 years a lot of things have been updated,” said Mr. Dwayne Archbold, Assistant Principal of Student Life.
When the 2017 wing was built there were also modifications made to the 36’ wing to help address the accommodation deficiencies. There is now a new elevator that travels from the weight room all the way to the balcony of the auditorium. It makes stops at the college office, the library and all the floors in the 36’ wing. Despite these additions it is still an arduous journey. Instead of going up a quick flight of stairs, a student would have to get on the elevator, next to the auditorium and then choose the proper floor and the traverse the hallway leading to that section of the building.
In order to get from the second floor of the old building to the second floor of the new building, a student who could not use the stairs would need to take three elevators. First, they would have to take one elevator from the second floor of the old building to the first floor. The second trip would be on the elevator next to the auditorium to the first floor of the 36’ wing. The third elevator located after the bridge in the 17’ wing, would take them from the first floor of the new building to the second floor.
If any of these elevators were out of service, they would not be able to complete this trip.
There are still several areas that are inaccessible to students with disabilities. The cafeteria is only reachable by a set of stairs. The third and fourth floors above the cafeteria have a staircase in the hallway.
Additionally, the elevators in the 2017 building are almost always broken. For physically disabled students, this cuts them off from both Gym A, located underneath the first floor, and the second floor. Only accessible by a set of stairs, the second floor contains several classrooms and the counselling office for IB DP program. Gym A would only be accessible from the outside of Curtis, through the street entrance.
The pool is another issue. Though it contains a lift to place physically impaired students into the pool, the pool locker rooms are reachable only by steps. The trip to boy’s locker room requires two sets of stairs, and the girl’s locker room takes one. The entrance to the pool itself is blocked by small steps.
It’s important to celebrate the improvements that have been made to accommodate disabled students, and acknowledge the difficulty of retrofitting a 119 year old building. “We’re always looking for ways to maintain the facility and to update the facility to keep it clean and ready to serve the students for another 120 years,” said Mr. Gregory Jaenicke, Principal of Curtis High School.
