What’s next, now that the Langley Board of Education has voted to keep Langley Secondary open and look to build a high school on the Willoughby slope?
“Now that the board voted in favour to submit a business plan to the ministry, we are working some of those details out and will submit the business case in a couple of weeks,” said secretary-treasurer David Green.
From there, Green has no idea when the ministry will respond.
“There is no guarantee that they will approve or move forward with the recommendation that we give them,” said board Chair Rob McFarlane on the school district’s website.
He voiced his concerns about the ministry not liking the idea of partially replacing LSS.
It is Langley’s oldest school and is in need of $19 million in seismic upgrading, and a further estimated $20 million for infrastructure and equipment upgrades.
With the board’s decision last Tuesday, now the oldest parts of LSS will be torn down and rebuilt.
Some of the newer sections will be kept intact, like the trades wing.
“We had our consultant look at it and we believe we can do a partial replacement for under $19 million,” said Green.
But costs to build a high school in Willoughby are much higher.
Green estimates it will be around $70 million to build a new school, which includes the cost of purchasing 10 acres of land.
“The cost of land in Willoughby is expensive,” he added.
The district has several sites under consideration, should the ministry come to the table with at least half the funds.
The district believes it could fund up to $35 million of the cost. Selling off unused school sites is still being looked at.
Letters have gone home to families in the LSS and Willoughby neighbourhoods, letting them know there is no known timeline yet, but the district will communicate with them as soon as it knows more.
In the letter, superintendent Suzanne Hoffman indicated that for Willoughby students there will need to be some interim measures “in order to best accommodate students in Willoughby schools.” This information will be forthcoming, she wrote.
“We are going to have to have a conversation on how to accommodate middle school students,” said Green.
Yorkson Middle School, which opened in September, is expected to be over capacity soon. Mountain Secondary already has 16 portables. RC Garnett Elementary is now a K-5 school, but it has portables too.
In last week’s budget, the provincial government announced funding to build or rebuild five schools, the nearest being Clayton North high school in Surrey, not far from Willoughby. There was no mention of funding for Langley.
“All of those high schools had been approved by the government years ago, it’s just now that the funding is coming through,” said Green.
