What is in a name? Spirit.

To the Editor ( October 24, 2010 )

What is in a name? Spirit.

The recent activity at Moncton High School once more brings up the question of its fate. I have a few thoughts on it. In particular I’m addressing David Wilson’s letter “A new facility replacing MHS makes sense”

It is not simply a building we want to save; it is something more important although less tangible. Those who logically look at everything in terms of cost-benefit analysis may find it hard to understand, but I trust some of you will follow me.

MHS may have been badly built or poorly maintained, but it has character. It makes a lasting impression. Many modern buildings are badly built and poorly maintained, with no spark of character at all. Why is this? Because the men who build things have a dual nature; in the past they were usually artists & architects, today they are usually accountants & engineers.

Mr. Wilson actually has a good point, although I like MHS a new facility would make sense. It could incorporate many modern aspects not easily added to the existing building. It would most likely be less expensive than renovating. But let’s face reality; we will not get a school of comparable quality for cheap.

Let’s consider the replacement options.

1. Have a good-bye party for MHS, and then salvage everything that can be reused or sold to raise funds for the new building. Demolish it all, don’t try to join new to old that always causes problems. Build on the same site, a new school that will keep the style of the old. Do not build to minimum code with cheapest methods and materials. Give it some grandeur: high ceilings, stone work and hard-wood trim. This way it may have continuity and be worthy of keeping the name Moncton High.
2. Donate MHS to the Heritage Society and let them deal with it. Build a brand new school across town. Make it modern in every aspect, a showcase for efficient “green” architecture. But do not name it Moncton High, let it be a new school with its own name, do not try to transplant the spirit.

The last thing we want to see is a cheap new concrete box-school across town with a few token stones around the door pretending to be our MHS.