Claudia Culley
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder
The Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools (NLPS) board is ramping up its advocacy efforts to replace Nanaimo District Secondary School (NDSS) by seeking letters of support to send to the provincial government.
The board has actively advocated for NDSS’s replacement for years yet is facing challenges getting this request to the top of the government’s list of priorities amid competing interests and province-wide needs with limited money.
To help prioritize NDSS, the board is working to mobilize local and regional governments, rights holders and community partners, including the Regional District of Nanaimo and Snuneymuxw, Snaw’naw’as and Stz’uminus First Nations, in writing letters to the Minister of Infrastructure and Minister of Education and Child Care, copied to local MLAs.
The board hopes this joint action will ensure NDSS receives the respective ministers’ attention.
“The funding for a new school building or even a seismic upgrade comes from the province.
“So, it’s not our choice of when it happens and it’s not funding from the school district. That’s why we have been engaging in some advocacy activities,” said Gillian Robinson, NLPS director of communications.
NDSS was built in 1952 and has outlasted Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. The school’s walls, floors and roof all need replacing, meanwhile the layout and design of the school is very institutional with low ceilings and dark corridors, Robinson said. It was also not designed for modern day learning, which is reliant on computer labs and multimedia projects.
“NDSS has really just reached the very end of the building’s feasible life, and investing into it at this point doesn’t make a lot of sense financially,” Robinson said, adding that two exterior wall repairs costed $250,000 each.
The building also has a large climate footprint and uses a lot of water, which may be due to the 1952 pipes and some associated water loss, Robinson added.
NDSS is home to more than 1,600 students. Due to the dated design of the school, there is limited space for people to congregate.
“It is dark, there’s no gathering spaces,” Robinson said.
“This is not an environment that is supportive of mental health and wellness for our students or our staff.”
In an email statement to the Gabriola Sounder, the B.C. Ministry of Infrastructure wrote they recognize that many families have moved to the Nanaimo area in recent years and local school enrolment has grown steadily as a result.
“We’re working to deliver the schools families need, both now and in the future, in growing communities like Nanaimo,” the ministry wrote.
Since 2017, the province has invested over $54 million into six school projects to build new or upgrade student spaces in the Nanaimo area.
This included $16.5 million for the Chase River Elementary and Wellington Secondary projects which will add 150 new safe seats through prefabricated classrooms to each school. The province also invested more than $37 million for two seismic upgrades at Pleasant Valley Elementary and Cilaire Elementary to provide over 590 safe seats as well as two expansion projects at Dover Bay Secondary and Hammond Bay Elementary, adding 395 new safe seats.
NLPS has identified the need to replace NDSS as a top priority in its 2026-27 five-year major capital plan.
“The ministry will consider their submission as part of the annual capital planning process, alongside requests from the other 59 public boards of education, with the outcome becoming known through Budget 2026,” the ministry wrote.
NLPS recognizes that there are many competing priorities when it comes to provincial funding, Robinson said, and hopes its advocacy work will put NDSS top of mind when there is opportunity for a new high school build in the province.
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