New Westminster Secondary School is getting its first facelift in almost 20 years.
District workers have been on site since the beginning of last week, power washing the 65-year-old-plus building and painting the doors and window trim.
A hazardous-materials crew has also been on site, clearing away lead paint that’s been peeling and chipping off the building’s exterior for almost two decades.
“I think it’s fair to say that everybody has contacted us about cleaning up the outside of the facility,” district director of facilities and operations Doug Templeton told the Record. “We’re just trying to clean it up and make it a little more presentable without spending a lot of time and effort on it.”
The school, built in 1949, has been approved for replacement since 2003, and one reason it hasn’t been spruced up before now, according to school board vice-chair Casey Cook, is that its demolition has seemed imminent for years.
“There was that expectation, and you have to weigh out the value of spending money on a facility,” he said.
Cook was chair of the board’s operations committee about five years ago, when painting NWSS was last put on the district’s five-year plan for spending its annual facilities grant (AFG) from the province, but the school was low on the priority list, he said.
The board agreed in May to go ahead with the work, according to superintendent John Gaiptman, in part because NWSS had come up in the rotation of summer work planned by the district and in part because the district now estimates the school won’t be replaced for another three years.
“There was general agreement around the table,” Gaiptman said. “Now that we have a timeline, it makes sense to ensure that, when students walk to school and when residents live and look at the school, that they’re looking at something and participating in something that’s pleasing to the eye – or more pleasing to the eye.”
Cook, who emphasized AFG money does not compete with education dollars, added another reason the district couldn’t afford to let NWSS deteriorate for another three years.
“For international students, we are in a very competitive environment,” he said, “so optics matter … We pulled in about $700,000 to $800,000 over top of our budgeted revenue from international education this year, so optics of your facility do matter, and we know that that’s the case. The business plan also enters into it.”
Work on the school will last throughout the summer, according to Templeton.
