Seismic upgrades to come with stratospheric cost

The idea is to prevent the shocks from an earthquake from toppling PRSS, however the shock of the cost of the project to that, may just bring the place down anyways.

School District 52 was presented with a rather hefty estimate last week at the cost of reinforcing Prince Rupert Secondary School to withstand the wrath of Mother Nature, now the question is will the cost be worth the work or is it better to just build from scratch.

As the School district ponders the prospect of some 7.9 million dollars in required upgrades, the debate will heat up as to the future of secondary school education in the city, whether there will still be two high schools at the end of the day, or if a merger and creation of a junior high program will be the next step in the process of education in the city.

The Northern View was quick with the story last week, featuring the details first, posting them to their website over the weekend, The Daily News provided its background on the issue in Wednesday's paper.

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Earthquake report puts PRSS on some shaky ground
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Page one

Two years after School District 52 commissioned a seismic study of Prince Rupert Senior Secondary School, the district's trustees have learned that the building would cost nearly $8 million to upgrade to current standards.

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The Phase Two Seismic Mitigation Feasibility Study, completed by David Nairne and Associates Ltd. (DNA), outlines PRSS' construction history between 1958 and 1992, and identifies the materials that each portion of the structure was built with.

The building's superstructure is comprised of structural steel, wood, and masonry gravity and lateral systems, while the main floor structure is a combination of suspended concrete floor slabs, concrete slabs-on-grade, and suspended floors over crawlspace, with timber piles and concrete piers supporting the foundation walls and beams. Although the site was originally considered at significant risk from any seismic shaking from the bedrock beneath, more recent analysis found the seismic demand on the building to be less than what DNA originally considered.
However, DNA's general findings were still not very encouraging.

"Our seismic assessment of PRSS identified significant seismic deficiencies in the building structure and foundations that pose a high seismic risk," stated the executive summary of the study. "To address these seismic deficiencies, significant seismic upgrading will be required ...

We estimate that the total project cost for the structural seismic retrofit of this school to be $7,941,381 based on a Construction Management approach over a continuous 16-month construction period between February 2010 and June 2011."

The response to the extraordinarily high cost of maintaining PRSS from the SD52 board at their open meeting on Feb. 10 was nearly unanimous, with most trustees baffled at the prospect of spending $8 million to upgrade an old school. Janet Biel was blunt, stating that the obvious answer will be to tear down the building and build a new school in its place. Others were more reserved in their opinions, but it did not appear that anyone at the table was in support of such a complete retrofit given the extensive costs involved and the district's tight budget during the next several years.

The seismic study comes at an opportune time for SD52, as public discussion will begin next month when the board will host a Public Townhall Meeting to provide an update on their Long Range Facilities Plan and receive feedback on the scenarios recommended by the Matrix Planning Report in January.

Progress in the Premiers riding, but not so much for the heartland

"I read the announcements too and do wonder when our needs will be addressed,"-- Superintendent of Schools Eric Mercer, patiently waiting for an update on seismic upgrades for School District 52...

Recent news stories highlighted a pair of seismic upgrades completed on two elementary schools in Gordon Campbell's Vancouver Point Grey riding, a pilot project providing a much needed safety addition for the students of the area.

And while no one begrudges safety concerns anywhere in the province, the lack of seismic upgrading for a number of Prince Rupert schools could perhaps use some helpful intervention by the Premier if he's not too busy.

School District 52 is still waiting for word on whether the much needed funding for the required upgrades here will be coming through this year, though being listed as "in the pool" doesn't give one much hope for a quick resolution to the ongoing issue.

Last year the School District closed a pair of schools on the east side, which will take them out of the inventory now, a move that one would assume could perhaps help to move the District further up that "in the pool" list.

Though if you read this Vancouver Sun article, it would seem that the new policy of the Ministry of Education to upgrade newer and smaller schools, over older and larger ones, may leave the School District out in the cold when it comes to funding for the much needed upgrades locally.

A recent meeting with Deputy Education Minister James Gorman didn't seem to indicate that the issue here will be rectified any time soon, a situation that will have Prince Rupert parents keeping an eye on the newspapers to see where the next upgrades take place in the province and whether any other high profile politicians might be attending the ribbon cutting ceremonies.

The Tuesday Daily news outlined the seismic situation so far and examined what the future may be when it comes to the necessary upgrades.

Schools wait for seismic spending
Local schools in need of upgrades wait to hear if cash will come
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Pages one and three

Even with nearly every school in School District 52 falling short of current seismic standards, it doesn't look as if any Prince Rupert schools will get an upgrade in the near future.

Superintendent of Schools Eric Mercer said that while SD52 is "in the pool" with many other districts across British Columbia, there is currently no timeline for when much needed funding might be awarded to undertake seismic upgrades at any of the district's schools.

The news that two schools in Premier Gordon Campbell's riding were at the front of the queue for seismic upgrades and receiving additional funding for a Neighbourhoods of Learning pilot project has been met with a great deal of criticism, and has left many school districts pondering how long it will be before they see additional funding.

"I read the announcements too and do wonder when our needs will be addressed," said Mercer.

"We're dealing with school closures and are interested in what the Neighbourhoods of Learning model will mean too. But I have not received notice of any emergent action on seismic upgrades for us yet."

The structural and seismic repair cost estimates from 2004 were put at a total of more than $7.7 million, with Prince Rupert Senior Secondary accounting for $2.7 million of that total.

Both Kanata and Seal Cove required a combined total of more than $2.3 million. That is money the district will no longer need to allocate now that the schools have been closed. There is still more than $5 million in upgrades needed for SD52 schools to protect them more adequately from the earthquake risk.

And that $5 million does not include the more than $7 million required for mechanical upgrades to district schools, an amount that is estimated to increase by 15 per cent each year that the upgrades are not completed.

Mercer attended a meeting with Deputy Education Minister James Gorman earlier this month where the deputy minister stated clearly that $4.67 billion is budget for education in British Columbia, and that no additional money would be allocated for education.