Millions in upgrades coming to mid-island schools this year
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Better ventilation, electric buses and better energy efficiency are on the way for some school districts on Vancouver Island.
The province is dishing out millions for upgrades at schools in Nanaimo, Ladysmith, the Cowichan Valley and Qualicum Beach.
They are heading to a variety of projects through the School Enhancement Program (SEP), which helps out with repair and maintenance needs, or the Bus Acquisition Program (BUS), which helps replace old buses that have reached their limit.
On the mid-island, the school districts included in the grants are:
VICTORIA An elementary school in Nanaimo has rescinded its hold-and-secure order Thursday morning after police investigated a nearby incident. The Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District placed Fairview Elementary and the school district administration centre under the hold-and-secure order around 9:30 a.m. as Nanaimo RCMP investigated reports of a suspicious person near the Nanaimo Ice Centre. The school district lifted the hold-and-secure order around 10:15 a.m., after police gave the all-clear and left the area. Nanaimo RCMP say they were called to the Nanaimo Ice Centre around 9 a.m. for reports of a man walking around with what appeared to be a rifle in a marshy area behind the property.
April 21, 2021 - 6:30 AM A B.C. teacher with a history of forging inappropriate relationships with students lost his job and got a reprimand from the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation for bringing inappropriate books into a school library. Matthew Norman Lettington was working as a teacher-librarian in the Nanaimo Ladysmith School District in Dec. 20, 2019 when the district made its final complaint to the commissioner about him, according to a Consent Resolution Agreement. As part of his duties in the library, the commissioner explained in a decision published online April 20, he was expected to select and purchase books for the school’s library.
Island Health says it’s conducting contact tracing and will get in touch with anyone who might have been affected. An exposure is when someone who tests positive for COVID was at the school during their infectious period. Also new to the Island Health list of schools with COVID-19 exposures is Cedar Elementary in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District. The exposure was Monday or Wednesday. Greater Victoria School District has had only a few COVID-19 exposures during the 2020-21 school year, including one in November at Sir James Douglas Elementary and one in January at Ecole Macaulay Elementary. Board chair Jordan Watters said the district has been fortunate considering its size it’s made up of 47 schools and about 20,000 students.
VICTORIA Construction is underway on an expansion to Nanaimo’s Hammond Bay Elementary school. The B.C. government says the 12-classroom addition is expected to be completed in February 2022 and will increase the school’s capacity by 295 students. “Students and staff deserve to spend their days in positive, engaging and inspiring classrooms that give them the best chance to thrive at school,” said Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside in a statement Tuesday. “Our government is taking action to ensure students in fast-growing communities have the school space they need to succeed in their education,” Whiteside said. The province is spending $14.6 million on the expansion while the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District is kicking in $1.25 million.