A former school board trustee says she’s upset that schools in Vancouver that likely wouldn’t survive a major earthquake have not yet been made safe despite the province promising nearly four years ago to fix them.
Patti Bacchus attended the April 2013 press conference where B.C. Premier Christy Clark promised $584 million to upgrade a number of schools, including 16 in Vancouver.
“She said they would be funded and done within three years,” Bacchus said of the premier. “Not one of them has even a shovel in the ground.”
“All of our kids deserve to be in safe schools,” Bacchus added.
According to the province -- which fired Bacchus and the rest of the school board in October for failing to balance its budget -- one of the schools will undergo its upgrade next winter and the rest will be done by 2030.
Dianne Turner, the provincially-appointed trustee who replaced the school board, says she plans to accelerate seismic upgrading.
“For children to go to school and staff to work in a school that's seismically upgraded and a safe environment is a high priority for me,” Turner added.
Education Minister Mike Bernier issued a statement blaming the previous board for its “constant focus on political advocacy.” He said the replacement of the board will allow it to “move forward more quickly with seismic mitigation projects for Vancouver’s schools.”
The province points out that progress has been made outside of Vancouver, with 160 out of 278 schools already upgraded at a cost to the province of $1.2 billion.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Sarah MacDonald
