As the finger-pointing continues over a decade-long delay to make sure schoolkids are safe in case of a major earthquake, the example of one school shows a myriad of reasons why seismic upgrades take so long.

Although the B.C. government had previously set a deadline of 2020, it now says all seismic upgrades at high-risk schools outside of Vancouver will be complete by 2025, and the 69 high-risk schools in Vancouver won’t see the work finished until 2030.

Some of this delay is being caused by disagreements over the scope of the projects, such as whether schools should undertake other maintenance at the same time as seismic upgrading, or whether only the seismic work should be done. Also, the Ministry of Education does not want to pay for students to be accommodated in portables while their schools are being upgraded.

The province’s minister of education, Peter Fassbender, said the program has changed since it was first announced 11 years ago, and that is part of the delay.

“When this program was announced, the objectives were very clear — to make schools safe for every single child in the province,” Fassbender said. “What we didn’t know was the reality when you start getting into it and you take down walls and you look at foundations and all of the engineering that’s necessary to achieve that goal. We not only have continued to work very closely with every school district, we have also doubled the budget.”

But Fassbender also placed some blame for the delay on the Vancouver School Board.

“The government has been pushing very hard with the city and the Vancouver School Board to get project definitions done. In the time since this program was announced we’ve been only able to complete 20 in Vancouver,” Fassbender said. “The funding has never been an issue. What has been an issue is the inability of the VSB to bring forward project definitions that are bathed in good science and good engineering to ensure that those projects were done properly and ensuring the safety of students.”

This interactive map shows the seismic upgrade status of Lower Mainland schools identified by the B.C. Government as being at highest risk.

Green = Completed

Blue = Proceeding to construction

Pink = Supported (Construction not yet started)

Yellow = High 3 (Isolated failure of building elements such as walls are expected; building likely not reparable after event)

Orange = High 2 (Vulnerable structure; at high risk of widespread damage or structural failure; likely not reparable after event)

Red = High 1 (Most vulnerable structure; at highest risk of widespread damage or structural failure; not reparable after event)

The VSB said Friday that it remains committed to the 2020 deadline and that any revised schedule could put the safety of Vancouver students at risk.

“Our goal is to upgrade all of our schools as soon as possible,” said VSB chairman Christopher Richardson. “We recognize that these projects are very complicated and complex and we trust that the provincial government will continue to work in partnership with us to get this job done.”

Vancouver still has 69 schools that are not seismically upgraded, including four that are underway, two that are proceeding to re-construction, 23 that are “supported” — which means the government has approved them to be eventually upgraded — and 40 that have not yet been approved to proceed.

There are 38 “supported” schools throughout the rest of the province, including one in Abbotsford, one in Langley, one in Richmond, two in New Westminster, three in Coquitlam, three in North Vancouver, and four in Burnaby.

And there are 126 schools outside of Vancouver that are identified as high-risk, but are not yet approved to proceed, including seven in Surrey, eight in Coquitlam and 24 in Richmond. Not every district in B.C. is subject to seismic risk.

Jim Meschino, director of facilities for the Vancouver School Board, said the complexity of the problem is huge and that the rules are constantly changing.

“I don’t think that’s abnormal,” Meschino said. “We know a lot more now about how to seismically upgrade a building.”

Lord Nelson Elementary, a 104-year-old school on the city’s east side, was among the first schools supported for seismic upgrading in 2004, when then-premier Gordon Campbell announced the program. Eleven years later, the old school is still there and a replacement is still three-and-a-half years away.

The timeline of events provided by Meschino shows many glitches that have stalled upgrading work at Nelson:

• In 2007, an initial feasibility study was completed, which found that it would cost $17 million to seismically upgrade the school, and just $15.6 million to rebuild it completely. The VSB decided to proceed with a new school.

• Around the same time, Charles Dickens Elementary was rebuilt and some parents were upset to discover that the new school was much smaller than the old school. Modern schools at that time were significantly smaller than older schools because they no longer had cloakrooms or basements that were used for kids to play in. The provincial ministry sets the space requirement per student, and in 2008, Campbell agreed that schools could be 15-per-cent bigger if they would share space with the community. The Vancouver School District spent about a year doing a study on this, at the behest of the ministry, and in fall 2009 the study was completed.

• By early 2010, the province and the VSB did a comprehensive audit of all Vancouver schools to determine the extent of seismic work required. This was a joint initiative and took a year to complete. At the same time, the VSB was enmeshed in a debate over closing some schools. After giving notice of possible closure to parents at 11 schools, trustees ultimately approved a staff report in 2010 that recommended against closing five of the schools, a move it said would only save $1.5 million a year.

• By 2012, new seismic standards were completed by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C., which meant that new feasibility studies needed to be done. Meschino said they got a new feasibility study done in six months, while it usually takes a couple of years. He said they wanted to get the backlog of schools waiting to be upgraded out of the way.

• In December 2012, VSB staff had the new feasibility done and presented it to the board. Once again, the option of replacing Lord Nelson Elementary was approved. This time, it was $14.1 million to replace it, or $22.5 million to seismically upgrade it. This proposal keeps students in the old school while the new one is being built, so there is no extra cost to house students in the meantime.

• The proposal was submitted to the ministry in January 2013, but the ministry and the VSB did not agree on enrolment numbers. The VSB argued for a bigger school, while the ministry wanted a smaller school. That was sorted out and approved by December 2013. Meanwhile, construction costs had gone up, so the VSB wanted the new rate, but the province didn’t agree.

• In May 2014, the new seismic mitigation project office was announced and the ministry put a hold on any new projects until the office was up and running.

• In January 2015, the project agreement was signed by the ministry, allowing a $15-million new school with capacity for 460 students.

• Today, an architect is designing the new school. This is projected to take about a year, after which the project will go to tender. Construction is expected to begin in March 2017 and students should be in the school in September 2018.

Sun Education Reporter

tsherlock@vancouversun.com

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