A renovation to Armstrong’s Pleasant Valley Secondary School’s gymnasium may turn into a full gym replacement after some issues from a 1970s fire at the school were discovered. The gym will not be available for use in the fall, the North Okanagan Shuswap School District has announced. (Facebook photo)

Armstrong high school gym out of commission

Renovation at Pleasant Valley Secondary discovers issues that could result in gym replacement

  • May. 20, 2021 12:00 a.m.

A renovation to Armstrong’s Pleasant Valley Secondary School gymnasium may become a replacement.

North Okanagan-Shuswap School District superintendent-CEO Peter Jory told board trustees at their regular meeting Tuesday, May 18, that work to retrofit the PVSS gym has shown that fire damage at the school in the 1970s was not finished properly and will now have to be fixed.

“There may even need to be a full gym replacement,” said Jory.

While the extent of the problem has not been fully detailed, Jory said the gym will not be available for use and other arrangements are being investigated and will have to be made for the fall.

School district operations director Travis Elwood reported what structural engineers had so far determined, and secretary-treasurer CFO Alanna Cameron said the full scope of the required work is not yet known.

“We have been in touch with the ministry (of education) and have been assured, ‘we will be sent a life raft,'” said Cameron. “Once we know the cost, we’ll get a more definitive direction from the ministry. I’m confident we will get some funding help. We want to minimize the impact on students.”

Cameron said more information will be presented at the June board meeting.

READ MORE: PHOTOS: Hawks soar as new name for Armstrong high school teams


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