At least one school trustee is surprised the New Westminster school district’s proposal to replace Richard McBride Elementary School is now before the province’s Treasury Board.
At Tuesday’s school board meeting, trustee Jonina Campbell questioned why the Record was told the district’s replacement proposal for Richard McBride Elementary was before the Treasury Board before the school board.
“To my understanding that’s not the case,” she said at the meeting.
“We have not submitted, through the Ministry of Education, this to Treasury, right?” Campbell asked staff.
But according to staff, the ministry does not have to share when a project is sent to Treasury, so while the proposal has been submitted to the ministry, the district wouldn’t necessarily be told if it made it to Treasury. (Treasury Board meetings are also done in-camera so the agenda is not made public.)
“We often know that it may go to Treasury in the next couple of months but … we don’t get a phone call to say you’re going to Treasury,” he said. “What we do is just keep conversations going with the ministry and encouraging them to keep it as a high profile.”
Last week, New Westminster MLA Judy Darcy told the Record the replacement proposal submitted by the school district was being reviewed to determine whether replacing or upgrading the school made the most sense financially. Because the anticipated cost of the project is so much, the proposal has to receive Treasury Board approval, Darcy said.
“The information that I have is that one of the issues that’s under review is whether given the cost involved for this school, what makes the most the sense. Is it seismically upgrading it or is it replacing it?” she said.
The Sapperton school was built in 1929. It has a seismic rating of H1 and has the highest risk of widespread damage or structural failure. McBride wouldn’t be reparable after an earthquake. (The existing New Westminster Secondary School is also classified as H1.)
The district estimates a complete replacement of Richard McBride Elementary would cost about $20 million while a seismic retrofit would cost about $18 million, according to the district’s five-year capital plan.
“I think we present a very good argument as to why it should be replaced,” Duncan said, adding Richard McBride is the district’s number 1 priority now that the New Westminster Secondary School replacement project is underway.
