The teacher workroom will be undergoing changes over the summer, beginning with the room itself. The current location is in Room 118, but due to a lack of water access, the workroom will be switched to Room 117, Alexis Caldwell’s current Spanish classroom.

“There’s water access in Ms. Caldwell’s room, which will enable us to have a coffee maker in there which we don’t have already,” principal Brian Brennan said, “and we’ll have access to an ice machine in there.”

Along with a new coffee maker and ice machine, the room will feature collaborative and individual workspaces for teachers to utilize. New furniture, countertops and computer screens will be installed to give teachers another place to work, especially those without personal classrooms. 

“We are going to put in some collaborative workspaces, so additional big screen monitors to add to the workspace we already have in there. We’re getting some counters from the 2900 building that the district bought, and they’re removing the cabinets and counters in the remodel, so we’ll replace those,” Brennan said.

The new collaborative workspace is being included to give teachers more time to work together during plan periods, as Oakville has faced an influx of students, meaning classroom space is becoming more and more limited. 

“Next year we’re moving towards trying to provide collaborative work time within common-prep periods for teachers,” Brennan said. “With the increase in the number of students and staff that we’re getting, classroom space is becoming the priority. We need to have a space for teachers to collaborate and work.”

Although the water access will bring new benefits to teachers, Caldwell worries that the room may not be utilized by teachers due to its location. Caldwell’s classroom is located on the first floor in the foreign language hallway. The room is tucked away, which could affect how often teachers use the room, especially if they are on the upper floors or on the other side of the building. 

“Just based on the people I see in the current workroom, I just don’t think a variety of teachers use the space, and I think moving it into a corner is just going to continue that trend. I don’t think a lot of teachers are going to be using the new space as much because of its location,” Caldwell said. 

These upgrades are being funded by leftover ESSER funds, which was money given to the school during COVID-19. The construction will take place over the summer and will be completed by the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year. 

“…We thought that this would be a good use of the funds,” Brennan said, “adding nicer things in there for the staff to use and making it a more welcoming space for teachers to go and work.”