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B.C. will soon build hundreds of new classrooms to accommodate a flood of five-year-olds expected next year when full-day kindergarten is offered province-wide, the government announced yesterday.
The construction, worth more than $140 million, will include a new Langley school, 21 school additions and 133 modular classrooms, which are upscale portables described as offering "colourful, warm and naturally lit spaces." Some money will be used to convert existing surplus space into kindergarten classrooms and reopen a Kelowna primary school closed last year.
"This critical investment in early learning is an investment in our
province's future -- our children," said Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid, who attended a news conference in Surrey with Premier Gordon Campbell to announce plans for a total of 665 new classrooms.
Full-day kindergarten is being introduced this fall for half of the
eligible children, with full implementation in September 2011, when 40,000 five-year-olds are expected to become full-time students. Now, kindergarten is offered on a half-day basis only, except for students who are aboriginal, special needs or have English as a second language.
The plan for expansion follows years of declining enrollments in public schools and government pressure on boards of education to eliminate excess space by closing schools. Since 2000-01, student numbers have dropped by 56,000 and more than 150 schools have been closed.
Despite the anticipated influx of five-year-olds, some districts --
including North Vancouver, Maple Ridge, Prince George,
Kamloops-Thompson and Coast Mountains -- will still close schools this year. Vancouver, meanwhile, is bracing for closings in 2011.
The Sooke school district, one of the few in B.C. that has grown
consistently in recent years, received the bulk of Victoria-area money from the government announcement.
Sooke will be getting additions at four elementary schools and modular classrooms at six other schools, while the Saanich district gets two-classroom additions at Brentwood and Keating elementaries. The Greater Victoria district -- the region's largest -- was able to accommodate kindergarten students in existing space, but will receive a soon-to-be-announced sum for upgrading and updating classrooms.
Sooke school superintendent Jim Cambridge said the infusion of money for the district is "significant" and will add considerable space for the move to full-day kindergarten. That includes 19 new classroom additions -- six at Happy Valley, five at Lakewood and four each at Crystal View and John Stubbs -- and a total of eight modular classrooms.
Wishart school and Ecole Poirer will have two modulars, with singles going to Sooke, Sangster, Willway and Hans Helgesen.
"That's 27 additional spaces," Cambridge said. "It's nice that the
ministry is recognizing the growth in our area."
The spaces being built onto schools will hopefully be ready for
September 2011, he said, although planning is just getting started. Preliminary discussions have already been held with engineering and architectural firms, and further meetings will help determine if work can begin this summer.
"The prime construction time, of course, is July and August for schools."
Bringing in modular classrooms can be done on a more predictable schedule, Cambridge said.
"The ministry is basically doing that work and we're just doing the site preparation."
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- reprinted from the Victoria Times Colonist