A plan to move Salmo's elementary students to a new facility on the grounds of the community's high school has been sent to the education ministry for approval, despite skepticism from School District 8's board of trustees that it will receive the funding.
SD8 voted Sept. 10 in favour of requesting $18.7 million from the provincial government to fund the construction of eight classrooms that would be built as an expansion onto Salmo Secondary.
The district has made the same request annually since 2018 in response to its long-term facilities plan that calls for 190 new classroom seats be built at the site.
Salmo Elementary was built in 1953 and is considered at the end of its lifespan. The district's plan says an expansion at Salmo Secondary, which is just 20 years old, would be cheaper than revitalizing the elementary school.
The education ministry requests school districts make annual requests for major capital projects, but board chair Dawn Lang said the project is likely being passed on due to the needs of districts located in the Lower Mainland.
"So what we are doing is just putting the submission in front of the ministry each year to make sure that we're being noticed. We can look into that as a board to see if there's something more that we can do to advocate for this.”
SD8 trustee Susan Chew, who represents Salmo, said the need for a new elementary has been apparent for nearly two decades since the high school was completed.
The previous Salmo high school building was sold by SD8 to the Village of Salmo on the condition that if the building were demolished, the land would be used to build a kindergarten to Grade 6 addition next to Salmo Secondary.
That never happened. Instead, the building was saved and has been used since April 2004 as the Salmo Valley Youth and Community Centre Society.
“There was a lot of conversation and consultation in the community around … if we're putting in the effort to put in a new school building, should we be looking further afield to when this might want to be a K-12," said Chew. "So it literally goes back like several decades.”
The B.C. government says since 2017 it has spent $5.1 billion on building new schools while also updating old ones. The Kootenays haven't been left out — a new elementary school for Fernie was announced in August — but the majority of projects made public this summer are located in the Lower Mainland.
Nelson-Creston MLA Brittny Anderson said the ministry's capital projects are currently prioritizing costly seismic safety upgrades to B.C. schools. But Anderson also said she's aware Salmo needs a new elementary and has advocated for it directly with the education minister.
“The students deserve it, the teachers deserve it, and although we know that it's necessary to have seismic upgrading on places like the coast — no one wants to see the big earthquake happen and children to be killed inside their classrooms — but we also need to be paying attention and supporting rural communities and rural students.”
In the meantime, SD8 continues to keep Salmo Elementary maintained.
The district's director of operations Chris Kerr says the school has received various updates over recent years including a new interior paint job, flooring and fixes to the school's grounds. This summer the building also had all of its lighting updated to LED and received new kitchen equipment.
But Salmo Elementary also needs a costly heating, ventilation and air conditioning system replacement, and a new roof as well. Kerr said those projects will require significant funding, and suggested a new build would be more financially feasible in the long term.
Until that happens, Kerr said Salmo Elementary will receive the care it needs to host classes.
"It’s treated equally to all the other schools. We’re not letting that building slide.”
