D.P. Todd Secondary School is bursting at the seams and needs to be either replaced with a bigger school or have an addition built to the existing building, officials say.
The Prince George high school topped the list of projects requested by School District 57 in a five-year capital plan submission to the Ministry of Education, passed by the school board at Tuesday’s public meeting.
The cost of a total replacement of D.P. Todd is pegged at $130 million, which would result in a new school big enough for a student population of 900. An addition to the school would cost an estimated $88.38 million.
SD 57 superintendent Jameel Aziz said D.P. Todd is already pushing its capacity limit, with an increasing student population expected over the next several years.
“It was designed to host about 600 students and this year’s population is about 760 and we’re projecting that the number will start to go over 800 in coming years, so certainly there’s a space consideration,” said Aziz.
“The design of the building really does not meet the esthetic of today’s standards if you compare it to our Duchess Park (Secondary School) building or our Shas Ti Kelly Road building which has lots of natural light and wide hallways and high ceilings. It just feels like a relative of a bygone era.
“Most of the classrooms in that building actually don’t have windows and that’s challenging for people’s sense of well-being. A lot of people connect to natural sunlight with their biorhythms and we believe it is the building that is a priority to us to either be completely renovated and updated or replaced.”
Built in 1977 in the Heritage subdivision at 4444 Hill Ave., the school is named after David Todd, a former SD57 superintendent who retired in 1976. D.P. Todd opened in September 1978 for Grades 8-10 and in 1979 it added Grade 11 and 12 students.
Aziz said the building has been well-maintained but has washroom and space accessibility issues that fall short of today’s standards and it lacks a robust wireless/technical infrastructure integrated into the classrooms. He said at least three portable classrooms were in use in the 2023-24 school year.
Three other additions, all at Prince George elementary schools, were identified as priority items for the ministry to consider funding in the five-year capital plan.
The SD 57 request calls for four new classrooms and a daycare multipurpose room to be built at Edgewood, Malaspina and Springwood elementaries. The cost is estimated at $8.56 million for Edgewood, $9.09 million for Malaspina and $10.58 million at Springwood.
“There are spaces that could be repurposed, like a computer lab or other areas, but we’d prefer not to have to do that,” said Aziz.
“We are also thinking about the expectation for early childcare and certainly before- and after-school care is a starting point and the need for that kind of service within those three school communities.”
