Hundreds of leaky B.C. public schools will cost taxpayers millions to fix

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Hundreds of leaky B.C. public schools will cost taxpayers millions

to fix

The Canadian Press - VANCOUVER*

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iHkSbQqrlnOCuSBDpG4gCTh

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VANCOUVER — First, there was the leaky condo crisis that saw the

Vancouver skyline littered with the tell-tale blue tarps that marked

expensive renovations.

Now, B.C. schools are quietly struggling with a leaky school crisis

that will cost taxpayers almost $380 million.

It's been estimated that more than a thousand condo buildings were

affected during the leaky condo era, requiring still-ongoing repairs

estimated to be in the billions of dollars.

And, of just over 700 schools built across British Columbia at the

height of the shoddy construction era that resulted in the condo

crisis, almost 400 schools are leaky or being assessed for leaks,

according to documents obtained by The Canadian Press.

Hundreds of schools, from Sooke at the southern end of Vancouver

Island to the Stikine School District in the far north, have been

caught up in the same problem that once plagued condominium owners

in the province.

All the schools were built between 1985 and 2000.

The problem is so huge the provincial Risk Management Branch took it

on in order to save school districts from attempting to wade through

the reconstruction process.

Phil Grewer, executive director of the Risk Management Branch, said

the estimated cost of fixing the problem is $377 million.

" That's from the stuff we know (of), " Grewer said.

The repair tab is being picked up by the Ministry of Education,

however, Education Minister Shirley Bond declined requests for an

interview.

Mould from wet buildings can cause illness, but Grewer said most of

the problems have been found while they're in the exterior of the

building.

" That's why you want to catch it. You want to catch it before it

gets inside the building. "

But not all schools were so lucky. In Lake Cowichan on Vancouver

Island, A.B. Greenwell Elementary school was abandoned because of

the high mould-spore count.

" We had been complaining about the smell in that school since 1995-

96, " said Dave Halme, president of the Lake Cowichan Teachers

Association.

In January of this year, teachers decided there was something in the

school's gymnasium that was making them sick.

" They declared it an unsafe place to work, " said Halme.

Right in the middle of meeting of parents and staff about the

problem, Halme said a man in a white plastic suit and a mask came in

and started taping up plastic.

" There was a huge spot of mould growing on the carpet, " Halme said.

Now the 130 children who were in that school are bussed to the

community of Youbou, about 18 kilometres away, where a school was

reopened for them.

" The majority of the parents said they did not want their kids going

back to that school until the mould was out of there. That's all

there is to it, " he said.

Halme said the district is still deciding what should be done with

the mouldy school.

In Maple Ridge, teachers at Riverside Elementary were concerned

about the rate of cancer among employees in their leaky school and

reported it to their union.

" Of course, all of that coincided with the timing of the retrofit

and the renovations to the building, " said Serra, vice-

president of the Maple Ridge Teachers Association.

The B.C. Cancer Agency later determined there was no cancer cluster

in the building but Serra said parents still moved their children

from the building, leaving the school at less than half of its

student capacity.

Riverside is among the schools in the process of being fixed.

Grewer said five engineering firms are working on schools around the

province, conducting building envelope condition assessments.

The effected schools are at various stages of repair. So far, about

two dozen are listed as completed and about the same number are " in

progress. "

When water damage is noticed in a school, an initial risk assessment

takes place and engineers decide if the problem is small or if a

complete envelope assessment needs to be completed.

Currently, 123 schools are in the risk-assessment stage and could be

moved to the next phase, a full assessment of the building envelope

condition. More than 200 schools are in that stage.

Surrey's school district, which went through a dramatic population

boom between 1985 and 2000, has an astonishing 48 schools being

assessed in the program, far more than any other district.

Grewer said repair work is being prioritized depending on how bad

the schools are, with the worst getting done first.

" Then it's a matter of having the money available to do it, " he said.

Several lawsuits have been filed against builders, architects,

contractors, plumbing and heating firms, inspectors, window

installers and makers and many other trades.

In June, Delta School District filed a lawsuit over " construction

deficiencies " in the building envelope of its own head office and at

least two other school district head offices are also on the Risk

Management Branch list.

Grewer said the lawsuits are often settled out of court for a

portion of what the Education Ministry paid to fix the problem.