School District 43 superintendent Tom Grant confirmed Tuesday that three seismic projects will go ahead in the next three years. But Grant said the exact amount of funding for upgrading Minnekhada, Montgomery and Irvine schools isn't known. However, he expressed hope that district officials can convince the province that replacing aging schools is cheaper than renovating them.
Premier Christy Clark made the seismic commitment Monday as part of the nine-year-roll out of the Seismic Mitigation Program, which began in 2004.
In all,$584 million was announced to seismically upgrade 45 high-risk schools, including Minnekhada middle and Irvine elementary schools in Port Coquitlam, and Montgomery middle school in Coquitlam.
Although the funding envelopes haven't been finalized in a project agreement, the press release noted that money for Minnekhada would be available in 2014/15 and money for Irvine and Montgomery upgrades would come in 2015/16.
The projects have been on School District 43's capital list for some time, but the district is hoping to get funds to replace Minnekhada middle school, not just money to upgrade it.
