The Greater Victoria school district is considering combining Shoreline Middle School and Craigflower Elementary School at a single seismically upgraded site.
Both schools currently need seismic upgrades. The preliminary plan is for elementary students to be at the Shoreline site with their middle-school counterparts.
“Take all of those seismic dollars and do a really, really positive project,” said Mark Walsh, secretary-treasurer of the Greater Victoria school district.
The plan would likely require relocation of students to alternate facilities while work is underway.
The ministry, under the former B.C. Liberal government, made a controversial decision in 2016 to postpone seismic work at Shoreline because of low enrolment.
Seismic work at the school, which opened in 1968 as a junior high, is now part of the five-year capital plan submitted by the district to the Ministry of Education. Last year’s submission included seismic plans for Victoria High School and Cedar Hill Middle School.
“So now we’re finalizing that work and the ministry are going to determine whether they’re going to give final approval,” Walsh said.
For Vic High, seismic plans are part of a $73.3-million refurbishment proposal.
Having a middle school and an elementary school together is not uncommon, Walsh said. John Stubbs in the Sooke school district, for example, is a single-track French-immersion middle and elementary school, and plans are being developed at a Westhills-area property for adjacent middle and elementary buildings.
Walsh noted that Craigflower Elementary School is on Admirals Road, with Shoreline Middle School around the corner on Shoreline Drive.
“It’s the perfect location — they’re so close,” he said.
Walsh said plans for Shoreline are being finalized for presentation to the ministry in the next month or so. That includes analyzing costs and determining whether it’s more economical for a school to be renovated or torn down and built new, as was the case with Oak Bay High School.
Also in the district’s five-year capital plan are a number of projects that already have ministry funding, including accessible playgrounds for Braefoot and Eagle View elementaries.
Both have $105,000 in funding.
The former Richmond Elementary School, which closed in 2004 and has since housed students from a number of schools that have undergone seismic work, is receiving $500,000 for upgrades to its building enclosure and for upgrades and replacement of its roof. The school also gets $600,000 for energy upgrades and $350,000 for new, energy-efficient boilers.
The Braefoot school community will relocate to Richmond for the coming school year while a seismic upgrade is underway, although the idea of reopening Richmond has been floated as part of the district’s ongoing review of catchment boundaries.
Mount Douglas Secondary School will get $300,000 for building-enclosure and window work, while Lansdowne Middle School receives $400,000 for flooring.
All of the funded projects are due for completion by March 31, 2020.
A total of $266,334 was allocated for buses, as well.
