For a few years now, Bakersfield College has had plans to start renovations on the Speech, Arts and Music building.

According to LaMont Schiers, director of administrative services, they will finally start the renovations as early as December.

All classes that are in the SAM building are currently being held in the Fine Arts and Student Services buildings.

Some are even being held in the gym so the students can continue taking those classes, but they were just temporarily moved elsewhere until the remodeling is done. The equipment that is needed right away for the classes has been moved to the new rooms, but some equipment is currently being stored.

“Any major renovation to a building on campus has to go through a state evaluation process because they give us the funds, and that’s why it takes a few years,” said Schiers.

“The state has approved the renovations to the SAM building and all the architect drawings have been finished. We are currently now preparing all of our documentations to bid,” said Schiers. Once the bids come in, BC will award the bid to a contractor for an “x” amount of dollars that they agreed to and they will come in and do the remodeling.

“The construction can start as early as December, but if it doesn’t start on December I guarantee it will start January. It was decided that we won’t hold classes in the SAM building this semester, but we would continue to have those classes elsewhere on campus.”

“The next step we took is to empty the building of all the equipment and supplies and then we had to categorize the equipment and figure out where they would go.

“Some of the equipment hasn’t been easy to move like the pianos or xylophones because of climate changes. We are looking for acclimatized storage so the xylophones and pianos won’t be subject to temperature swings,” said Schiers.

“I don’t think this will do any harm to the students’ education, but some of the rooms don’t have as much space as in the SAM,” said Stephen Eaton, dean of instructional services. “The choir is in a room where they are on the stands and the conductor is on the stage, but that’s just a minor inconvenience.

“People ask, with the state having no money, why are they renovating? But the truth is, this has been a plan for a while,” he continued.

“No one is allowed in if you’re not moving anything out. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”

BC is planning to renovate the building and also the outdoor theater. “I think that the outdoor theater really does need a renovation because when you go out there you see weeds growing out of the ground,” said Eaton.

According to Schiers, the renovations are to last a year and a half. This means that if it starts in January of 2012, it will probably be done by the summer of 2013.