Two more sites in the Greater Victoria school district could be headed for seismic upgrades following reviews of their condition.
The former Uplands and Richmond elementary schools have been evaluated by consultants at a cost of about $5,000 per school. Uplands closed its doors in 2003 and has become a hub for district international-student initiatives, while Richmond closed in 2004 and has been used extensively as a temporary facility for schools receiving seismic work.
Uplands and Richmond are among seven district elementary schools closed from 2003-07.
An upgrade at Uplands is estimated to cost $3 million to $7 million, and the larger Richmond upgrade at $7 million to $10 million.
Both schools have been put at the highest-risk level.
School board trustees received a report on the ratings at a committee meeting Monday night. The ratings stem from a review that includes consideration of school boundaries, potential need to reopen schools and distribution of language programs in the district.
The latest announcement concerning a seismic upgrade in the district was in October involving Campus View Elementary, where a $2.4-million project will begin in June and is set for completion in September 2019. Education Minister Rob Fleming has said that another 50 seismic projects around B.C. would be approved over the course of the next 18 months.
A $7.92-million project to expand and seismically upgrade the Saanich school district’s Keating Elementary was announced last week,
District secretary-treasurer Mark Walsh said Uplands and Richmond have not been included on the province’s risk list of schools needing seismic work.
“I think when the provincial government went through that entire process, Richmond and Uplands were already closed as schools,” Walsh said.
Despite the activity at Uplands, it is not a full-fledged school by Ministry of Education standards, Walsh said.
“It’s not an active school, so we wouldn’t be able to get seismic dollars from the ministry to upgrade that facility.”
Audrey Smith of the Victoria Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils said the district needs to look at its closed facilities “so that they can have their eyes wide open when they go to possibly reopen a school.”
“Because of the overpopulation in pocket areas of the district, we do have to look at how to address that,” she said. “Knowing what the facilities are capable of doing and what work needs to be put into them to be able to make them up to code to put students back in them, is really very important.”
Walsh said there has been considerable discussion about the future of Richmond, especially because of steps taken at nearby elementary schools.
‘We did add a couple of portables at Willows last year and a couple of portables at Oaklands.”
Walsh said the district is hopeful that its entire seismic-upgrade list can be completed within a decade.
“We’re focused on Vic High, Shoreline, Cedar Hill, Braefoot and Craigflower as our next batch of schools, to get them where they need to be,” he said.
“We’re cautiously optimistic that we’re going to get a green light on a couple [of projects] before the end of this school year.”
Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association president Jason Gammon said his group has pushed for some closed schools to reopen, but would not want students to be put in unsafe buildings.
Space has become an issue in B.C. school districts in the wake of a 2016 ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that restored teachers’ 2002 contract language on class size and composition.
