With the recent teachers' strike now behind us, many parents in New Westminster are turning their minds back to the important need for a new high school in our community.
As parents of two Grade 6 students, it was with great disappointment we learned of the latest setback for the construction of a new high school. According to a consultant hired by the school board, the only way to determine if there are human remains on the site is to conduct a lengthy and costly archaeological dig.
Hiring archaeologists will not only use up limited dollars earmarked for our children's education, it will result in even more delays for this critical infrastructure project. That's why the time has come for local school trustees and the Ministry of Education to begin thinking out of the box.
Given how little land we have left to construct new schools in New Westminster, why not rethink our antiquated notion of what a centre for learning should look like. Rather than another lowrise building stretching a full city block, why don't we look upwards for a solution.
How about we use a fraction of the existing footprint of the current site and develop the tallest high school in North America? Perhaps a modern-looking structure as high as seven or eight stories that could accommodate all of our secondary students.
The ancillary benefits of building taller are painfully obvious. Healthier kids and teachers climbing stairs, more open green space for the community and a high school that is guaranteed to be built within the next five years.
There are scores of examples of post-secondary institutions that have chosen to grow upward rather than outward. Although more rare, there are also some secondary schools in large urban centres that have chosen to build taller.
Learning in a taller school should be no different than learning in a shorter one. After all, these are teenagers we are talking about, not elementary school students.
Other options should also be given serious consideration.
One of those could include building the new high school in the open green space located in the northeast section of Moody Park.
The current land used for New West Secondary could be then be converted into a new park and playing fields. Human remains that might be found on the site would not be disturbed in this case.
Our struggle with the nature of the current debate is that it is based on the premise that we need to build another sprawling lowrise school.
Surely if we have the wherewithal to hire good architects and build an attractive new Anvil Centre on a small piece of property, we could do the same with our high school. If we are willing to get creative, there are clearly other solutions out there that could result in cost savings and respect our heritage.
With the election of our new school board only a couple of months away, we have a brief window to engage with the candidates to find out what creative solutions they are willing to put on the table. Sadly for our kids, time is quickly running out on developing a plan that would result in them ever getting in to a new school before they graduate.
Daniel Fontaine and Renee Mosi are New Westminster parents.
