The New Westminster school district has received more than $1.5 million in provincial funding to perform upgrades to three schools this year.
Across the province, $65 million was doled out to school districts through the Ministry of Education’s school enhancement program. The money is for improvement projects to help school districts maintain their facilities, according to a press release.
In New Westminster, the money will be used to replace the rooftop air handlers at École Glenbrook Middle School, replace the boilers and gas-fired furnaces at Lord Kelvin Elementary School and upgrade the old flooring at École Herbert Spencer Elementary School.
These projects received $528,000, $900,000 and $170,000 from the school enhancement program, respectively.
“We’re pleased to receive some funding for some facility upgrade pieces. So those are important for us in terms of maintaining the long-term health of our capital inventory,” school board chair Mark Gifford told the Record.
The district is also chipping in some of its own money for two of the projects. It’s spending $300,000 at Glenbrook and $500,000 at Kelvin, according to its 2019/20 five-year capital plan, which was submitted to the Ministry of Education last spring.
The district anticipates that the replacement of the rooftop air handlers at Glenbrook Middle and the boilers and gas-fired furnaces at Kelvin will save the district about $8,000 per year in energy costs. The two projects are expected to be complete by September, while the flooring upgrades at Herbert Spencer should be done by August.
