Keating Elementary will be expanded and upgraded over the next two years to deal with rising enrolment and better protect students in the event of an earthquake, the B.C. government announced Friday.
The project will add four new classrooms to the Central Saanich school and repair an older “high risk” wing at a total cost of $7.92 million.
The addition will get built first and then serve as “swing space” for students displaced during the seismic upgrades to follow.
The move eliminates the need for portables and will help the district deal with existing space constraints and a projected increase in enrolment over the next 10 years.
Victoria Martin, who chairs the Saanich school board, said space is already at a premium in the district following a Supreme Court of Canada decision that restored smaller class sizes in B.C.
“For us, the fact that it was not portables, but it was an addition that will well serve our community for decades to come, was very, very exciting,” Martin said. “And it’s happened very, very fast.”
Jason Reid, the district’s secretary-treasurer, said Keating Elementary is already cramped with more than 400 students.
“The school is very full,” he said. “They’re using a multi-purpose room for a classroom, which is not ideal.”
The project is slated to begin in July and conclude by March 2020 with the district contributing $343,000 toward the additional classrooms.
Keating Elementary and the Children’s Development Centre in Cordova Bay are the only two remaining schools in the district that require seismic upgrades. The development centre is listed as one of the government’s “future priorities.”
Education Minister Rob Fleming has pledged to accelerate seismic upgrades to clear a backlog of 181 schools waiting for improvements.
He announced a $2.4-million upgrade to Campus View Elementary School in Victoria in October and claimed at the time that 50 projects would be approved over the next 18 months.
The NDP has earmarked $522 million for seismic projects over the next three years.
