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Work has begun to dismantle and tear down Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, where five students and an educator were killed in a mass shooting earlier this year.
Officials with School District 59 in northeastern B.C. say the work will be done in stages over the summer and is expected to be complete by fall.
“Every effort is being made to carry out this work in a way that respects the significance of the site and minimizes disruption to students, families, and the broader community,” the school district said in an update Tuesday evening.
The district says the school, built in the early 1980s when the coal mining town was established, “will be carefully dismantled in stages, rather than using more disruptive methods.”
“Most of the work to remove furniture and other moveable materials will take place inside the building and materials will be removed using covered trucks,” the statement said.
“All building materials will be transported to regional landfills. The Tumbler Ridge landfill will not be used.”
Plans for upcoming year
In May, Premier David Eby announced plans to tear down and replace the school “as quickly as possible” at a new location.
The district says an architect will be selected in the coming weeks to develop conceptual designs, ahead of consultations with students and residents in the fall.
The federal and provincial governments have committed $200 million toward the new school and an updated community health centre.
Tumbler Ridge is home to about 2,400 people, and about 160 students across grades 7 to 12 attend the secondary school, which also housed a college campus.
Since the shooting, temporary portable classrooms have been set up on the grounds of the local elementary school.
More modular campus facilities, including washrooms, offices, counselling spaces, and a gathering area for students, will start arriving later this month and be ready for the start of the new school year, the district said.
Radio West11:21Tumbler Ridge to get new secondary school, following mass shooting in February
Chad Anderson, from School District 59, says the old school will be demolished and the new school will be built on new site. He says school board will use trauma-informed practices as it plans to build new Tumbler Ridge Secondary.
Meanwhile, a police investigation into the shooting remains ongoing.
Earlier this month, RCMP and B.C Attorney General Nikki Sharma could not provide a timeline for when the investigation would be completed.
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