SD59 to start design consultation for new Tumbler Ridge Secondary School

TUMBLER RIDGE, B.C. — Design consultations on the new Tumbler Ridge Secondary School will begin soon. 

School District 59’s (SD59) board chair, Chad Anderson, during an episode of This Week in the Peace, said the design consultations on the new Tumbler Ridge Secondary School will start shortly, with design possibilities coming out towards the end of this year. 

This comes after the NDP government announced a new school would be built in Tumbler Ridge, following a mass shooting at the Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on February 10th. 

“We have some more facilities coming [into] place there, but this decision was based on a consultation that has taken place over the last number of weeks in the community,” Anderson noted. 

The consultation started with families, students, staff, and families associated with the secondary school, before it was opened to the community. 

From the consultation, Anderson said three main messages emerged that led to the decision to build a new school. 

“Those main messages were [to have] a new school facility at a new location was going to be crucial for students, staff and families to feel safe going into a new facility,” he explained. “The existing facility just has trauma that many of us will never understand associated with what took place on February 10th, and so that was a clear message from this consultation.” 

In addition, the community expressed the need to “prioritize the views of those [who] suffered the most that day.” 

Anderson said: “The victims’ families, and especially students who were near the [scene] on that day, and so we’ve been able to do that, looking at the recommendations out of this report.” 

The other recommendation was to remove the existing school facility. 

“It is a source of ongoing trauma and pain for for victims, families, and the community in general, and while we know that no decision like this is going to be unanimous, there are many people that have had positive memories in the high school, and so the decision of the community certainly wouldn’t be unanimous, but we know that this is the right path forward,” Anderson explained. 

Safer Schools Together brought forward recommendations based on best practices and community feedback. 

“There will be a committee formed in the future to discuss [the] design of the school, some of the next steps and memorials,” he added. “The feedback in the report is people don’t necessarily want a static or a really grim memorial, and it’s important that [it is] not [a] part of the new school, because we want the new school to feel safe.” 

Anderson said the province has been “fantastic” at moving very quickly with the Phase 1 and Phase 2 facilities. 

“We really appreciate [the province] getting [the] education programs up and running again quickly, and I know that urgency follows through on the new build,” he said. 

Anderson noted that the community has been through a trauma-informed approach, which means being “aware of the pain and healing that needs to take place in the community is respected.” 

When asked if there would be anything else impacted during the knockdown of the current school, Anderson said: “The community did express the need to find a location that is still central in Tumblr Ridge…so that students can continue to walk from home and use downtown restaurants and stores in the lunch hour, we’re prioritizing that as we look for new space.” 

At the moment, Anderson explained, there is a “horse-shaped layout” for a double-wide portable classroom, similar to those around the province. 

He added: “There are some pilings in place…for the central office and lunchroom facility, [which will be] added over the summer or early fall to provide a central meeting place for students and staff.” 

“The Phase 2 secondary school facility is on the Tumbler [Ridge] Elementary property, and we also have a childcare facility that’s been approved, [which] will be on that land as well, so it’s going to be a really busy place for the coming months.” 

Anderson added that one of the clear messages from the report is the need to maintain the level of facilities in the secondary school, including the trades program shop, kitchen and sewing facility. 

“The community wants to see those maintained, and so a big focus for us in [the] design process and through those consultations to come,” he noted. “Then there are…positive memories from the existing facility that can be in the new facility, and so that’ll be part of that conversation as well.” 

More information on the consultation process will be released in the coming weeks. 

To watch the full episode of This Week in the Peace, see below.