The sign on the School Street side of the gleaming new building says it all.
The brand-new Skwo:wech Elementary School will open for students after March break, the New Westminster school district announced this morning (Friday, March 4).
The new building was intended to open in January, following the winter break, but the construction project was beset by delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including supply-chain challenges and labour shortages. Then the catastrophic flooding that hit B.C. in November, interrupting transportation routes, delayed the project still further.
But the delays have been overcome at last, and the school district is on track to receive its occupancy permits from the city in time to move from the old building to the new building over spring break.
Superintendent Karim Hachlaf, in a letter to families March 4, expressed his "slightly qualified excitement" about the announcement.
"This means Skwo:wech Elementary students and staff will get to return from spring break through the open doors of the beautiful new school our teams have been working so hard to build," Hachlaf said.
What the move to the new Skwo:wech means for families
Spring break runs from March 12 to 27. The school will be closed for in-class instruction on both Friday, March 11 and Monday, March 28 to provide time for staff to pack their classroom items for the movers and to set up in their new spaces.
Teachers will provide limited at-home assignments for families who want to continue with their children's learning on those days.
"We are asking families to support this exciting move by providing or finding child-care options for those two days," Hachlaf said.
If that's not possible, families are asked to reach out to principal Kathleen Chad to coordinate "structured supervision" through regular school hours.
"We're so excited to be this close to the long-awaited move-in, and we will certainly follow up with (families) should there be any unforeseen challenges to this schedule," Hachlaf said.
The new, $35-million school is located behind the old school – formerly Richard McBride Elementary, built in 1929 – on its Richmond Street property. Funding for the replacement school was announced in 2018 as part of the B.C. government’s program to replace or renovate seismically unsound schools.
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