Planning for a new Cedar Hill Middle School continues with the third in a series of open-house events at the Cedar Hill Road facility on Tuesday.
The school is ranked as having a high need for seismic work. Funding of $42.9-million for a replacement school was announced last July by the province.
The Greater Victoria School District is contributing another $3.6 million, bringing the total to $46.5 million.
People attending the upcoming open house will be invited to give input on design elements and to examine preliminary floor plans and architectural renderings.
An open house held March 3 focused on features like accessibility, traffic circulation and bike access.
Tuesday’s event will be the public’s last opportunity to weigh in on the design. The district said all input will be compiled and reviewed by the board of education before final plans are submitted to the Ministry of Education for approval.
The Cedar Hill Middle School building was constructed in 1931 and is one of the oldest in the district. There have been several additions, with the latest in 1975. The building first housed the original Mount Douglas Secondary then became Cedar Hill Junior Secondary and finally a middle school.
The project is due to start this fall and be complete in summer 2025 with space for 575 students.
The Greater Victoria Local Shop Teacher Specialist Association said it is concerned that the wood-shop facility has been removed from the new school plans because of the estimated $500,000 cost to purchase and maintain an exhaust system.
The group said in a statement that removing the wood shop from the school would create an inequity in the district: “We will be the only middle school to not provide a wood shop exploratory class to our students.”
There will be an absence of basic skills with fundamental tools that could limit the possibility of students entering the trades, the statement said.
The open house runs from 6 to 8 p.m. in the school’s gym, at 3910 Cedar Hill Rd.
