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Campaign for new roof at Bayside Middle School school gathers pace

Students and parents stepped up their campaign Tuesday to replace a roof at Bayside Middle School that has been leaking for more than 20 years. While parents delivered a petition to the B.C.
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Rob Fleming said it's unfortunate that it took a public outcry to get the governmentÕs attention.

Students and parents stepped up their campaign Tuesday to replace a roof at Bayside Middle School that has been leaking for more than 20 years.

While parents delivered a petition to the B.C. legislature, students at the school made a “Fix Our Roof” wishing well from one of the many rain buckets used to catch drips.

Sandra Arthur, chairwoman of the school’s parent advisory committee, told reporters at the legislature that it will take more than a few coins to fix the problem.

The roof has been leaking since the school opened in 1992. Saanich school district has spent about $380,000 on repairs. It now pegs the cost of replacing the roof at $2.6 million and wants the B.C. government to cover more than half of that.

“We know that the district does not have the funding to do a full roof repair,” Arthur said. “There’s 575 children and 50-plus staff working in the Bayside Middle School.

“They’re contending with a horrendous situation every time it rains.”

She said that one classroom has to turn off the electricity when it rains, while students in the gymnasium have to dodge rain buckets while playing games.

The district earlier confirmed that a student suffered a mild concussion last year after slipping on a wet spot in the drama room.

“It’s quite mind-boggling that this condition has been allowed to continue — not only from a maintenance perspective, but health and safety as well,” Arthur said.

Education Minister Mike Bernier avoided making any commitments under questioning in the legislature by Gary Holman, NDP MLA for Saanich North and the Islands.

Bernier said districts usually pay for roof repairs from annual facilities grants, but he agreed with Holman that the situation at Bayside “has gone on too long” and needs to be fixed.

Outside the house, Bernier met briefly with Bayside parents and told reporters that his staff have been working behind the scenes with the district to try resolve the issue.

“Obviously, for student safety, this can’t continue,” he said.

He said that when the district brought the issue forward last year “there was not funding available within the specific capital envelopes to assist them and, at that time, the message was given to the school district that that’s their responsibility within the facilities grants that we give them.”

Now, he said, “the leaks are no longer minor” and that’s why the province is working on a solution with the district.

Parents, however, remain skeptical that anything would have happened without their public campaign that gathered 500 names on a petition in just four days.

Martina Redman, who handles communications for the parent advisory committee, said the district has been pressing the province for years to deal with the issue. “I’m still not confident it’s going to actually happen, but we’re definitely further ahead than we’ve ever been,” she said.

Rob Fleming, the NDP’s spokesperson on education issues, said it's unfortunate that it took a public outcry to get the government’s attention.

“This is how things work in the province of British Columbia right now,” he said.

“Unless you’re willing to go out and protest and make noise because of intolerable situations, this government’s going to ignore you as long as they can.”

lkines@timescolonist.com