Students rejoiced as they heard that their school, Pitt Meadows Secondary, will receive upgrades after years of planning.
The announcement was made by Lisa Beare, MLA for Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, in the presence of Bob D’Eith, MLA for Maple Ridge-Mission, members of School District 42, school staff and media on Friday, March 10.
The replacement of the school will allow for a safer educational experience for students, said Beare.
“This has been a huge priority for me since I was elected, and it has been great to work alongside so many caring advocates here in the community, whether they be parents, school board members, education staff or local government, we have all shared a collective goal of seeing this school built.”
The upgrades are expected to boost capacity at the secondary school. Currently, the school has capacity for 1,100 with 895 students enrolled.
The province has allocated funding to rebuild the school with modern facilities and improved infrastructure however, a final announcement regarding when work will commence will be made in the next 12 months, confirmed Elaine Yamamoto, chair of board of education.
“It has taken us eight years to make this happen so it’s a long process,” said Yamamoto.
Albion schools not ‘high priority’
MLA D’Eith agreed. When asked about adding a school to the Albion area of Maple Ridge, he said the decision of adding a new school to the subregion is made by the school district, not by them.
“The school board was proactively thinking when c̓əsqənelə Elementary was built and bought land in the area in 2018 because we knew it was a developing area,” said D’Eith.
Read: Councillors wary about Albion residential developments as no schools nearby
During council meetings, Coun. Korleen Carreras of Maple Ridge has expressed her concerns of approving residential developments in Albion without enough schools for children to go to.
But Yamamoto shared that until the area is populated with families, building a school in Albion is not a high priority.
In November 2022, the provincial government announced the replacement of Eric Langton Elementary School which had 468 students enrolled with a capacity for 402.
The replacement project will make the elementary school seismically safer and add room for 680 students.
“I know first-hand that a lot of hard work has gone into advocating for these funds, and a lot of collaboration. With this replacement of PMSS and the replacement of Eric Langton, it’s wonderful to know that soon even more kids in SD42 will be receiving their education in safer, more comfortable schools, said D’Eith.
