More than a quarter of a million dollars of provincial grant money will be spent on repairs at Nanaimo District Secondary School this summer.
As part of the B.C. Ministry of Education's annual facilities grant, providing money to maintain and repair school facilities, Nanaimo-Ladysmith district received more than $3.5 million for 2024-25, and a similar amount is expected for 2025-26. The sum will include $251,000 designated for work at NDSS, according to a March 5 strategic directions committee staff report.
Exterior stucco finish has lost its adhesion, said Gillian Robinson, school district spokesperson, in an e-mail, and needs to be replaced due to the building's age. Stucco will be removed and an "alternative finish product" will be applied, with work scheduled for the summer and finished in time for September.
At the committee meeting, Mark Walsh, school district secretary-treasurer, said there was no other way around the NDSS situation.
"Very disappointed that we're spending [the money] on the exterior walls at NDSS," he said. "We are throwing good money … that's just because it can't wait for funding for that facility and so we have to do that."
School district-wide, more than $790,000 will be spent on replacing roofs and close to $800,000 will go to mechanical system improvements.
Facilities grant spending has shifted in the last couple of years, Walsh told trustees.
"One is accessibility improvements, you'll see three per cent of the budget, $106,000, but in addition to that, there is small contingencies built in to a lot of our programs to be able to address accessibility," he said. "That's a priority that's shifted in the last couple of years."
Walsh also pointed out expenditures for technology infrastructure improvements represented a spend of close to $314,000.
