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VICTORIA – Students and staff
at the second-largest francophone school in B.C. are celebrating the school’s
new safe and environmentally advanced green design, Education Minister Shirley
Bond said today at the school’s official opening.
“Environmental
conservation has greatly influenced the design of this replacement school,”
said Bond. “I commend école Victor Brodeur for doing its part to help us
reach our goal of reducing B.C.’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 33 per
cent below current levels by 2020.”
L’école
Victor Brodeur elementary/secondary
will have room for 540 students in kindergarten through Grade 12 and will be
operated by the Conseil Scolaire Francophone (CSF), the
B.C. school district that represents francophone students. The new
Victor Brodeur replaces its namesake on the existing site.
“L’école Victor Brodeur will continue to
offer early childhood programs for young children and out-of-school care,
making it a place that will foster and nurture the development of the
francophone community in our Province for years to come,” said John van Dongen,
Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relations.
The school conserves energy and water through
the use of efficient lighting, high-performance windows and insulation, a
heating system that recovers and recirculates heat, low-flush toilets and
waterless urinals. The school property includes permeable asphalt, which will
allow more rainwater to be treated and absorbed into the ground, with any
excess water retained in a basin beneath the surface. Several mature
trees on the property were preserved in the landscaping around the school.
“This state-of-the-art
school provides a safe and eco-friendly learning environment for students and
staff,” said CSF chair Marie Bourgeois. “In light
of Victor Brodeur’s steady growth and the arrival of new French-language
citizens in the Victoria area, the school will continue to play an important
role in our school district, as well as in the francophone community.”
The school was completed in January at a cost
of $19 million, with the Province contributing $16 million towards the facility
and the federal government contributing $3 million for an
on-site preschool, before- and after-school care facilities, and a theatre. In
order to improve the air quality indoors, contractors used natural wood
products and flooring instead of chemical and plastic products wherever
possible. They also recycled and reused more than 75 per cent of construction
waste materials to keep them out of landfills.
The school district has a partnership
agreement with the municipality of Esquimalt to share the use of indoor and
outdoor school spaces – like the theatre, gymnasium and kitchen area – and
Esquimalt Parks and Recreation spaces, including the recreation centre, Archie
Browning Arena and Bullen Park. Funding from the municipality also contributed
to the construction of a basketball court and an outdoor multi-use field on the
school grounds. The new school will also be earthquake safe.
Capital funding for francophone schools has
totalled more than $47 million over the last four years, including funding for
école Victor Brodeur, Vancouver francophone secondary school, école Gabrielle
Roy in Surrey and André Piolat in North Vancouver.
Since 2001, the Province has spent over $1 billion to complete 26 new
schools, 32 replacements, 140 additions and 22 renovation projects across
British Columbia. By the end of 2008-09, the Province will have invested more
than $2.8 billion in school capital and maintenance projects across British
Columbia.
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contact: |
Public Affairs Bureau Ministry of Education 250 356-5963 250 920-9040 (cell) |
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