School on fire: Getting a district back on track

The demolition of Parkcrest Elementary School.

On the second day of the 2019-2020 school year, Parkcrest Elementary School in Kamloops was destroyed by fire. The fire started just after 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 5, and by 9 p.m. the district superintendent of schools was informing parents and staff that the school would be closed until further notice. More than 360 students and 40 teachers and staff were left without a facility.

On Sept. 16, when the entire school was welcomed into the George Hilliard site, only six school days later, the School District #73 administration, education staff, and maintenance and building crews literally moved mountains to make it happen.

“The seemingly easy transition and resumption of normal routines for all the students and staff impacted by the fire would not have been possible without incredibly strong district and administrative leadership, along with the concentrated effort of many throughout the district and our community,” said Kelvin Stretch, secretary treasurer. “In particular, the immediate and ongoing efforts of our maintenance and building crews are to be commended. They are continuing to work long hours to meet difficult deadlines to make sure our district recovers from this fire as quickly as possible.”

Decisions were required immediately to allow the work to begin. By Sunday, Sept. 9 a plan was put together and crews were in motion. step 1: Relocate the entire Twin Rivers Education Program of 175 secondary students and staff from the George Hilliard site to three different locations on the North Shore area of the community. This included construction of a school-within-a-school at NorKam Senior Secondary to accommodate some of those students. step 2: Move Parkcrest students and staff into the George Hilliard site. step 3: Move current occupants, the Big Little Science Centre and a daycare operation, out of the Happyvale site building. step 4: Complete renovations at the Happyvale site in order to reunite TREC students at that site within the next four to five months, including the installation of six portables. Renovations at the Happyvale site are underway and are expected to be completed by Christmas.

Other considerations included a playground, pur-

Superintendent of Schools Alison Sidow presents the Parkcrest Recovery Plan during a media briefing on Sept. 9. The halls of George Hilliard Elementary were lined with welcoming posters like this one, made by students at other schools across the district.

chased by the Parkcrest PAC, which was in shipping crates and awaiting installation when their school was destroyed. A decision was made to install it, instead, at the George Hilliard site. It is now in use by Parkcrest students.

“An amazing amount of work was accomplished in an extremely short period of time and our district did not miss a beat in continuing the daily routines of all our other students,” said Alison Sidow, superintendent of schools. “Even so, there is a lot more to be done, including all the renovation and construction required to keep our students and staff accommodated until we have replaced Parkcrest school.”

Once that work is done and TREC students are set-

tled into the Happyvale site, the school-within-a-school at NorKam will need to be deconstructed. All this as

the district plans for the demolition of the remains of the Parkcrest building, site preparation, and then the rebuilding of the new school. n

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