The demolition of an old school is sometimes a sad thing, but when the deteriorating Belmont Secondary School complex is razed, there will likely be more cheers than tears.
That鈥檚 not a negative reflection on students and teachers, but an acknowledgment of what they have had to endure in a building that has been overcrowded for years and has become more than a little down-at-the-heels.
The Sooke school district announced the sale of the school property Thursday to Sobeys, the parent company of Thrifty Foods, which intends to put a mixed-use development on the 8.5-hectare site. The $23 million from the sale will help pay the cost of the two new schools that are replacing the old structure 鈥� the new $54-million Belmont being built on the site of the former Glen Lake Elementary and the $40.8-million Royal Bay Secondary, under construction in Colwood鈥檚 Royal Bay area.
The new schools are scheduled to open in September 2015, after which the old Belmont will be torn down.
Sure, there will be some nostalgia for a school that has stood for more than 50 years, and there will be all kinds of memories, including those of duct tape holding down tattered linoleum, buckets in the hallway to catch rain dripping through the ceiling and hallways so crowded, making progress while wearing a backpack was difficult.
To say the new high schools are overdue is an understatement. There are families with small children who moved into the region on the understanding that a new high school would soon be built, who saw their children graduate from the same old building.
In a time when people in other regions are protesting the closures of schools that operate at half or three-quarters empty, many parents in the Sooke school district scramble to get their children registered in the school of their choice before it fills up. In 2011, Sooke was listed as one of the fastest-growing school districts in sa国际传媒, with enrolment expected to increase 55 per cent in the ensuing 15 years.
Yet approval for the new West Shore high schools came after much foot-dragging and delay on the part of the sa国际传媒 government. In fact, after the new schools were promised, the government did some backpedalling, and suggested perhaps the district would have to be satisfied with just one school.
That stirred up something that鈥檚 more important than bricks and mortar 鈥� school spirit. Led by Grade 11 student Ravi Parmar, 800 Belmont students walked out of class in May 2011 and staged a protest on the playing field. Students held signs that read 鈥淗elp Us Help the Future,鈥� 鈥淟eaky Lockers鈥� and 鈥淣o More Duct Tape.鈥� An assistant superintendent made the appropriate noises about the district not condoning walkouts, but there鈥檚 no doubt that the students鈥� protest was in line with what the district was seeking.
The students took their crusade to the legislature and presented a petition to then-education minister George Abbott. That was followed by a letter-writing blitz by students and parents.
In November of that year, Abbott received a standing ovation from students at Belmont as he announced two new schools would be built. Perhaps the government would have made that decision without the protests and public pressure, but it would have been hard to ignore students whose demands were not for their own benefit 鈥� they will all have graduated when the new schools are completed 鈥� but for their younger siblings and for a future generation.
The school building isn鈥檛 what makes a good education, but a good education is difficult when the building is falling down around its students.
