A Port Coquitlam school considered at high risk for structural failure in an earthquake needs to be rebuilt as soon as possible, say a group of parents lobbying to get Irvine elementary on the province's seismic to do list.
A proposal to rebuild the school at a cost of $16.8 million has been forwarded to the provincial government but the parents fear it will languish for months in the bureaucracy while their children remain at risk.
They also wonder why it's taken so long to get the proposal into the government's hands when Irvine was assessed as a moderate to high risk of quake damage in 2004 and upgraded to high risk in 2013.
"People have known about this and nothing's been done," said Tara Tait, one of the parents who has been researching and trying to raise awareness about the school's seismic issue.
The parents say they aren't trying to pit one school against another for provincial seismic funding and are also appealing for funding for Minnekhada middle to be replaced. Minnekhada has also been deemed high risk for structural failure in an earthquake and is awaiting funding approval for a $30.4 million rebuild.
"I believe all schools should be upgraded," said Diane Sam, whose child is in Grade 5 at Irvine.
The parents say the information about the school's high quake risk has been kept under wraps and only came to light after their own digging.
Alisha Delver, who has one child at the school and another slated for kindergarten next year, said if she had known the building was at high risk of damage in a quake, she would have enrolled her children in the French immersion program at Coquitlam River elementary.
"The province keeps saying it has the money, so fund it," said Delver.
In fact, Irvine has been on the government's seismic list of high-priority schools in its School Seismic Mitigation program since 2012. In 2013, it was on a backgrounder for funding along with Montgomery middle, also deemed a high risk in 2013. A proposal for a $29.3-million rebuild for Monty has also been sent to the provincial government.
The parents say they want action as soon as possible even if it means School District 43 puts some of its own money into the rebuild projects.
"I think they have to allocate the funds," Tait said.
School board chair Judy Shirra, a PoCo trustee, said she also wants the province to move ahead on funding and says the district will do what it can to keep the project moving. But she didn't say whether the district has plans to spend its own funds to advance the design or other work, as it did to kickstart construction on Smiling Creek elementary school on Burke Mountain.
"If push comes to shove, we'll look at other ways to find money as a board," Shirra told The Tri-City News.
But she also cautioned parents against "fear-mongering," noting that her children went to Irvine 25 years ago.
"If those children were in danger, we would not put children in those schools," Shirra said.
Tait said she is not fear-mongering but simply advocating to get the school rebuilt as soon as possible.
"If I didn't do anything and something happens to the building, I couldn't live with myself," Tait said.
In a statement, the school district said it will be submitting a finalized project development report on Irvine elementary in the next few weeks.
The group has a Facebook page (SeismicSafety for B.C.) and will be updating it regularly.
