An expansion at Ladner Elementary is at the top of the Delta School District’s wish list of capital projects that will be submitted to the provincial government.
A report to the school board on the proposed 2025/26 capital plan notes the latest enrolment projections for Delta indicate that student enrolment will continue its slow recovery from many years of decline and that there is system-wide classroom capacity to accommodate the expected number of students for the foreseeable future.
However, the district is seeing a rapid increase in school-aged children in certain areas.
With that in mind, the district will once again submit, under the annual School Enhancement Program, a request for a six-classroom addition at Ladner Elementary for $9.7M to allow for the projected increase of elementary school-aged children within that catchment in the next three-to-seven years.
The report also notes there are no schools in the district inventory which have reached or are forecast to reach the end of their useful life, but there is one modular connected pod at Hawthorne Elementary that will be reaching the end of its life cycle within the next five years.
Major structural or accumulated maintenance needs will exceed the cost of replacement. Thus, the district is resubmitting a proposal for the replacement of the modular pod for $8.7M within the five-year capital plan time frame.
Among several other projects submitted for funding is a Delta Secondary roof refurbishment ($1,150,000) and district-wide heat pump replacements ($1 million)
Various requests will be made under the Carbon Neutral Capital Program including a Seaquam Secondary high voltage replacement ($500,000), while new accessible playground for Gibson Elementary ($195,000) will be requested under the Playground Equipment Program.
