While the Parksville Elementary School building may not enjoy the same occupancy level of its counterpart in Qualicum Beach, it has hardly become a shuttered derelict since it was closed by School District 69 (Qualicum) in 2014, school district officials and tenants say.
“It’s not like Qualicum Commons, with an 80 to 90 per cent occupancy rate,” SD69 secretary-treasurer Ron Amos said. “But certainly in the short term it’s a viable, usable space.”
Sarina Tryon, owner of Paradise Child Care Centre, certainly agrees. Since purchasing the former Parksville’s Promises Daycare from Lynn Moore last November and renaming it, Tryon has expanded from a single-classroom to four rooms boasting before- and after-school daycare, a kinder prep program and a multi-age daycare.
“It’s been amazing; we’re very lucky to have it,” Tryon said of the school. “I’ve been trying to promote it to get more tenants in this building.”
Parksville and Qualicum Beach elementary are two of four schools closed by the SD69 Board of Trustees in 2014 in a cost-cutting move following several years of declining enrolment in the district.
One of them, the former Winchelsea Elementary in Parksville is still used by the school district for its PASS-Woodwinds alternative school and adult continuing ed programs.
The other three were made available for rent or lease to private tenants, social services and government agencies, but have experienced a wide range of occupancy rates two years after being shuttered.
During a recent meeting of the Qualicum Beach Chamber of Commerce, School District Superintendent Rollie Koop highlighted the progress made at Qualicum Commons, the former Qualicum Beach Elementary School, which has an occupancy level that actually covers operational costs.
At the other end of the spectrum is French Creek Elementary in Coombs, which currently has no regular tenants.
Parksville Elementary occupies a position somewhere between those two extremes. The non-profit Sunrise Preschool occupies one classroom in the same wing as Tryon’s daycare centre, the Regional District of Nanaimo hosts a variety of programs in the gymnasium, and a new Montessori school is scheduled to open in another wing of the building.
But there is still plenty of space available, and Amos said the district is in negotiations with or fielding calls from prospective tenants. Physically, part of Parksville Elementary has been literally boarded up, largely as a result of vandalism that followed the school’s closing. Since portables on the campus were removed last September, he said, that vandalism has decreased markedly.
“We’ve dealt with boarding windows,” Amos said. “But as it gets more use it becomes a better space for us, as well as an asset for the community as a whole.”
Ironically, while the nearly full Qualicum Commons faces several costly capital upgrades in the coming years, Parksville Elementary has seismic upgrades and major roofing work done before its closure.
Without its availability, Tryon doesn’t believe her daycare would be in business.
“Probably not,” she said. “There wouldn’t have been the space in any other location to do the expansion we’ve done. Going into it, I knew there was the potential for us to expand. That was something I talked to the school district about.”
