Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools is going all-in with its push for a new Nanaimo District Secondary School and hopes local and regional government officials and First Nations will back its effort.
At its last scheduled meeting of the school year, on Wednesday, June 25, the board voted to ask politicians and other community partners to endorse the school district's request for a new NDSS via letters to members of legislative assembly and the B.C. ministries of infrastructure and education and child care.
A major capital project report from a strategic directions committee meeting June 11 noted that the high school, built in 1952, has numerous "aged-out systems" and requires a significant amount of maintenance, and a new build would meet numerous B.C. government and district goals, including decreasing the carbon footprint.
At that meeting, Mark Walsh, the school district's secretary-treasurer, said SD68 has officially moved NDSS from its seismic upgrade program request list "solely" into the school replacement program.
"Typically what the ministry does is, if they approve you for a seismic [upgrade], they say, 'The seismic costs $50 million, but a new school costs $60 million, you pay the difference,'" he said. "In this case, we're saying, 'no, all of the systems that are not going to be functioning at [NDSS], plus the seismic, means replacement is the one that we go for.'"
At this past week's meeting, Naomi Bailey, school board chairperson, said there have been numerous efforts from the current and previous board to gain the attention of the government to build a new NDSS, including meeting with local MLAs and working with the City of Nanaimo.
"We recognize that it's really important, I think, that in order to gain traction and the attention of the ministry, we need to get all the stakeholders involved in supporting this endeavour to get a new high school, because we know the conditions of the school are not great, not just in capacity," she said.
In an e-mail, the B.C. Ministry of Infrastructure, responsible for school builds, did not specifically say if it's considering funding for a new high school. The school district will have an opportunity to list it as part of its five-year capital priorities for the upcoming fiscal year and the ministry will then consider the submission, along with those from 59 peer school boards, as the government prepares its 2026 budget.
"We recognize that many families have moved to the Nanaimo area in recent years, and as a result, local school enrolment has grown steadily," the ministry stated. "We’re working to deliver the schools families need, both now and in the future, in growing communities like Nanaimo."
