School District 43 will not wait for provincial funding to get started on building additions to a number of schools.
Several schools are at capacity — including two schools that are under construction — so trustees agreed to approve funds to get some of the more urgent additions underway while they wait for their funding requests to get the provincial nod.
“I’m hoping the province comes to the table for these additions,” said Port Coquitlam Trustee Michael Thomas at the Jan. 30 SD43 board of education meeting. “Districts were promised these would be funded.”
Millions of dollars in portables, classroom make-overs and additions are needed to accommodate smaller classes required under teachers’ collective agreement, the board was told.
But with funds awaiting provincial approval, and not expected until April or May, trustees agreed to spend $3.5 million from the sale of surplus land at Glen elementary to Coquitlam and another $1 million in capital funding to get some of the work done.
Top priority is Dr. Charles Best secondary, which is “significantly” over capacity now and projected to be in the future despite efforts to create a longer day, with a five-block schedule, room conversions and five portables currently on site.
The district is concerned students living in the catchment will be unable to attend without the six-classroom addition.
But one trustee is worried the addition will just extend the life of a school when replacement is needed. “We are doing a disservice. This is a Band-Aid solution,” said PoCo Trustee Judy Shirra.
BUILDING BOOM
But Ivano Cecchini, SD43's assistant secretary treasurer for facilities and planning services, said the addition would be detached so it would “complement a replacement [school].”
Coquitlam's Panorama Heights elementary and PoCo's Westwood elementary also need additions to accommodate increased enrolment, trustees were told, as both are seeing more students and Glen elementary already has enrolment of more than 500 student and a space crunch even with the completion of a four-classroom addition.
It is hoped that once the district advances funds for Panorama and Westwood, design work can get underway for the four- and six-classroom additions.
Additions are also needed for Banting middle and Smiling Creek middle school — both under construction now — to handle smaller classes as a result of a Supreme Court ruling.
Meanwhile, a builder has been approved for Minnekhada middle school, a seismic replacement in Port Coquitlam. Yellowridge Construction Ltd., which is building Smiling Creek on Burke Mountain, will do the job for $25.6 million.
A dismantled lacrosse box will also be saved, according to school staff, it has been taken down but will be erected in an agreement reached with the city of Port Coquitlam.
Meanwhile, this week the provincial government announced $24.3 million in funding for a replacement school for Irvine elementary, also a Port Coquitlam school.
And in Port Moody, a new school for Moody middle is set to open for occupancy this month while a new elementary school in Coquitlam, called Smiling Creek, is expected to be completed for a September opening.
