Overcrowding at University Hill elementary and secondary schools is on the verge of being eased.
The Vancouver School Board is renovating the old National Resource Council (NRC) building at 4250 Wesbrook Mall, which will become the new University Hill secondary school for Grade 9-to-12 students.
Work on the project began last May and its expected to open this fall.
Once high school students move in, construction on a new, yet-to-be named elementary school at the vacated secondary school site at 2896 Acadia Dr. will beginonly its distinctive half-barrel gym will be retained. The school will house kindergarten to Grade 8 students and is expected to open in September 2013 with a capacity for 900 students. There will be a primary (kindergarten to Grade 5) and an intermediate (Grade 6-8) wing.
The current kindergarten to Grade 7 elementary school at 5395 Chancellor Blvd. cant accommodate demand, forcing some students to be bused to schools outside their catchment area.
University Hill secondary is equally pressed for space, according to school board chair Patti Bacchus. Its enrolment is just shy of 600 students. Eight portables are required because it was built for 350.
You can actually feel it when you walk into UHill how crammed in they are, Bacchus said. There are far more students there than it was ever designed for.
Kelly Isford-Saxon, the districts construction coordinator for the NRC project, said crews are progressing at break-neck speed on the new high school.
Weve gutted it and were in the midst of finishing off all of our seismic upgrading work. Were also building an addition at the same time, she said last week.
It will be a modern-looking school that houses up to 800 students with shell space that can be converted into another 200 spaces if needed. University Hill secondary principal Alex Grant is looking forward to the move.
Were hoping we can move in over the summer. Right now our anticipated move-in date is the middle of August and were hoping they can keep to that schedule, he said. Staff and students are pretty excited because theyre tired of this poor old building.
Lobbying for new schools in the university area began years ago due to the population explosion of school-aged children.
Growth remains steady so eventually there may be need for a third elementary school. A location hasnt been finalized but its expected to be on a site near the new secondary school. For now, Bacchus is pleased overcrowding is being addressed.
Its long overdue for sure. Its exciting to go by and see the [NRC] project. You can really see things happening, she said. A lot of people have worked for a long time to make this happen. I remember parents asking at meetings years ago why had this taken so long, so its good to see some tangible progress.
Anne Lee, the districts acting manager in the planning department, said the goal is accommodate all students living in the university, but she cant guarantee population growth wont surpass school capacity once again.
It depends on how quickly some of the developments that UBCs working on come on line. I cant [promise] because some of these developments, theyre just finalizing what the units will be in terms of type, so we dont know at this point if theyre going to be one bedroom or two, which would allow potentially more families to come, she said.
Twitter: @Naoibh
