New Westminster school trustees have approved the district’s capital planning requests to the B.C. Ministry of Education – with just one small tweak.
The school board’s operations committee agreed to a $46.5-million capital plan on June 9, passing it on to the full board for approval at its June 23 meeting. The plan, which outlines a prioritized lists of funding requests to the B.C. Ministry of Education, includes a request for $30 million to allow the district to purchase land for a new elementary school in the Fraser River Middle zone.
It also includes $9.5 million for a two-storey, eight-classroom expansion to accommodate 200 more students at Fraser River Middle School.
The only change to the plan comes under minor capital requests for playground funding.
The district had originally put Richard McBride Elementary School in the top-priority spot for playground funding requests.
But secretary-treasurer Bettina Ketcham told school trustees at their June 23 meeting that the district had to change that proposal since the location for the proposed McBride playground is right in the heart of the construction zone where a replacement school is now being built.
Since the district has only one full year (ending in March 2022) to use ministry funding, Ketcham noted that request needs to be delayed. Instead, a new playground for Herbert Spencer Elementary School, which was previously second on the list, moves into the top-priority spot.
McBride’s new playground now moves to second on the list, followed by playgrounds for Lord Tweedsmuir and Lord Kelvin elementary schools.
Playground proposals approved by the Ministry of Education receive $125,000 each for universally accessible equipment.
The five-year capital plan earned trustees’ support, although trustee Danielle Connelly raised concerns about the district not asking for funding for Glenbrook Middle School.
“I struggle with the lack of action at Glenbrook Middle School, with any type of action happening over the next five years,” she said. “It’s very overcrowded there. I struggle that it’s not incorporated into the plan as submitted.”
Ketcham acknowledged Connelly’s reservations.
“The concerns that you have are not lost on us,” she said, but added the district has to prioritize its requests and that Fraser River Middle School has more immediate capacity issues, given that it’s in the city’s highest-growth area.
Fraser River Middle School, which was built in 2016, was already over capacity in the 2019/20 school year. A school district report says the proposed 200-student expansion will meet the projected needs of the school until 2030, when enrolment is projected to stand at 699, and the addition of portables will allow it to meet projected enrolment up until 2041.
The New West school district is also submitting minor capital planning requests under the school enhancement plan and carbon-neutral capital plan.
For school enhancement, the district is asking for funding for four projects, in priority order: $1.15 million for exterior work (windows and cladding) at Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary School; $950,000 for HVAC and $375,000 for roofing at Queensborough Middle School; $280,000 for an air source heat pump system for Lord Kelvin Elementary School; and $425,000 for new air handlers at Queen Elizabeth Elementary.
Under the carbon-neutral capital plan, the district is eyeing four sites where it can change to an air source heat pump system to help reduce its carbon footprint: Queensborough and Glenbrook middle schools, and Herbert Spencer and F.W. Howay elementary schools (in that priority order).
Fifth on the priority list is upgrading Queen Elizabeth Elementary School lighting to LED.
Find a full story about the capital plan online here.
