Monday, June 17, 2019 ~ LANGFORD [with updates June 19]
by Mary Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
Two new schools in the fast-growing community of Langford were announced by Premier John Horgan today. Gathered on the school site on Constellation Avenue at West Shore Parkway, about 200 people populated an unpaved parking lot with the hilly school property beyond.
As MLA for the Langford-Juan de Fuca riding on the west shore of south Vancouver Island, Horgan was doubly pleased to be delivering much-needed schools to the fast-growing school district in British Columbia.
Sooke School District 62 (SD62) has both managed and endured rapidly student population growth for almost 10 years now, as families with children have flocked to the west shore communities of Langford, Sooke and Colwood for relatively affordable housing.
The student population will be over 11,000 this fall, in a region that includes Langford, Colwood, Sooke, parts of Highlands and View Royal, East Sooke, and Juan de Fuca up to Port Renfrew.
The City of Langford in particular has responded to the influx of families with increased housing supply as well as providing more recreation and services and supporting that with infrastructure.
About 500 new students per year enter the SD62 system. A long-range facilities plan is in place, discussed by the SD62 board and adapted over time. The two new schools announced today were part of that plan — a new elementary (K to 5) and a new middle school (Grades 6 to 8) will be built for a September 2022 opening date.
Meanwhile, most schools in the west shore and Sooke have portables for overflow capacity.
“Schools are at the heart of community. They are where we meet, play and connect,” said Premier John Horgan. “These two new state-of-the-art schools coming to Langford will deliver the modern learning environments our children need, while also providing spaces for community organizations and events.”
The new elementary school will have a Neighbourhood Learning Centre which also provides revenue opportunities for the school district. On-site child care will also be provided, something which generated a round of applause from the crowd under the mid-day blazing sun.
The BC Government is providing $88.6 million to build the new 500-seat elementary school and the neighbouring 700-seat middle school on Constellation Avenue. That location in the Westhills community of Langford is less than a five-minute drive from Belmont Secondary School on Langford Lake Road. The ‘new Belmont’ opened in September 2015 and is already beyond capacity, as is the new Royal Bay Secondary that opened the same year at full capacity (with expansion now underway to 1,400 seats — soon to be the largest high school on Vancouver Island).
These investments are part of the B.C. government’s work to add new student seats in fast-growing communities and give students a better place to go to school. Since September 2017 under Premier Horgan, the Province has created 9,425 student seats at new and expanded schools throughout BC, including 1,800 new student seats in the Sooke School District.
“These two brand new schools will ensure that families on the west shore are well served close to home,” said Rob Fleming, Minister of Education. “We are making great progress in this growing community after years of under investment from the previous government.”
The new schools will be built on a single, 6.5-hectare site purchased in November 2017 with $23.3 million from the Province and $1.6 million from the Sooke School District. The steep slope of the site will require leveling, which SD62 Superintendent Scott Stinson says was a factor in the purchase price.
Levelling land is an expensive endeavour, which now also is the required action for another school site announced today — for a future secondary school on McCallum Road in Langford. The purchase funding from BC for that will be $18.6 million. SD62 will contribute $350,000. “The ministry will work with the district on the best path forward to bring a new school to the property to benefit Langford students,” it was stated in a release.
“This is a great day for our school district and community,” said SD62 Chair Ravi Parmar, adding that schools in the district are at or nearing capacity.
“It’s important for our family-based community to have strong school funding with an emphasis on schools, not portables,” says Langford Mayor Stew Young. “We need solid planning that ties future growth to the much-needed infrastructure,” he told West Shore Voice News.
“Langford families appreciate the support and the investment by Minister Fleming and look forward to the new schools,” said Mayor Young. “The prospect of a new university in downtown Langford so that students can seamlessly continue their education locally, keeping out of the traffic jam going downtown. We know it’s less costly to stay at home where the support from parents will guarantee their future education,” said Young for whom Langford is his lifelong home town.
Budget 2019 includes a record $2.7 billion for school capital investments, including new schools, expansions, seismic upgrades and land purchases for future schools.
Smiling for the camera was a group of Grade 5 students from David Cameron Elementary school. They were welcomed to the new school land by Beecher Bay Chief Russ Chipps.
Also those attending the event today were SD62 board members, SD62 senior staff, Langford Mayor and Council, a former SD62 board member and former superintendent, and various representatives of organizations, schools and businesses in the region including Royal Roads University, WorkBC Westshore, Westshore Chamber of Commerce, teachers, parents, community, and developers.