A new elementary school in Lower Lonsdale, the replacement of both Seymour Heights and Queensbury elementaries with larger, new schools and additions to several others to get students out of portables are all on the North Vancouver School District’s “wish list” for the future.
Those projects were among 26 submitted to the Ministry of Education at the beginning of this month as being top priorities for future funding. The capital projects range from a $1.8-million renovation of Norgate elementary to $16.5-million replacement of Larson elementary. The projects come with a roughly estimated price tag of almost $167 million.
Capital plans are used by the ministry to assess capital needs of school districts across the province. But with limited provincial funds available to build new schools and fix up old ones, some projects are likely to remain on the wish list for a number of years.
Currently, the school district is still hoping to get the green light soon to begin work on a replacement for Argyle secondary. Next in line will be a replacement for Handsworth secondary – a project already approved for a seismic upgrade.
That project will likely go through a similar process as Argyle – with the school board weighing options of simply doing the upgrade or replacing the school, and negotiating with the province on how that should be funded. Estimates early in the process put the difference between a seismic upgrade and a new school at $20 million.
Projects on the five-year capital plan don’t yet have provincial approval. At the top of that list is a plan to close Blueridge elementary and move the school population there into a larger, new replacement of Seymour Heights elementary. Both schools are in poor condition, said John Lewis, schools superintendent. That project is pegged at $14.9 million.
Next on the list are replacements of Queensbury, Larson and Lynnmour elementaries, estimated at costs of $14.9 million, $16.5 million and $8.8 million respectively. Queensbury, built in the ’50s, has a growing student population, while Larson has been operating with four portables for a decade, said Lewis.
In the case of Lynnmour, it’s possible a new school would be built on a different site in the area, depending on where the population increase is centred, said Lewis.
The capital plan also identifies a need for a new elementary school in the Lower Lonsdale area. Demographic trends suggest “there will be sufficient student population in the future to support a K to 7 school in that area of the school district,” said Lewis – similar to the situation that happened in Vancouver’s downtown Yaletown district.
Residential development in the Moodyville area may also add to the need for a new school, said Lewis.
A seismic upgrade for Mountainside secondary is also on the list – a project made more complicated by a ministry policy of not supporting separate facilities for alternative school programs. The school – formerly Balmoral junior secondary – dates to the ’60s and has had renovations, said Lewis, but not to the extent of removing the risk from earthquake.
