Students from Quesnel Junior School (QJS) will be making the move to Maple Drive Middle School in March of next year.
The BC government officially made the announcement Tuesday that $1.7 million will be provided to the Quesnel School District (SD28) to renovate Maple Drive, which has been closed for 13 years.
“We’ll be continuing to work with the Ministry of Education, but we certainly hope this is a temporary solution in that the children will only be in the building for the next two to three years and that we’ll have something different for them to go to and that hopefully will be a replacement school,” says SD28 Board of Education Chair Gloria Jackson.
Jackson says although QJS, which was built in 1950, has significant issues, they are confident students will be safe to continue to attend until renovations at Maple Drive are complete.
The provincial funding also covers the costs of two portables and moving supplies and equipment.
“The safety of students, teachers, and support staff throughout BC is my top priority. Providing this funding helps ensure Quesnel Junior school students are learning in a safer environment as soon as possible,” added Education Minister Rob Fleming.
“Ministry staff continue to work closely with the school district on a long-term solution.”
According to Jackson, the Board of Education will have a broader community meeting in the future once they get some more information together.
She adds they are willing to meet with parents again and will have numerous meetings with staff to make the transition as smoothly as possible which will affect more than 400 students.
“I believe that we had about 50 parents in attendance,” Jackson says of a meeting Monday night.
“I think the number one concern is that maybe the plan to try and have them out by spring break is a concern and that maybe we could just wait until summer break. However, we did let them know that we would like to make the move as quickly as possible.”
Jackson says once the move to Maple Drive Middle School is complete following the renovations QJS will be permanently boarded up.
– with files from Rebecca Kelli, My Cariboo Now