Sir Guy Carleton students moved for the school year after massive fire

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Students of Vancouver’s Sir Guy Carleton Elementary will spend the year at a school about a five minute drive away from their current location. The damage caused by a suspicious fire there last week is too extensive for the staff to get the buildings ready in time.

The over 100-year-old brick building is damaged and so are its contents thanks to the water used to douse the flames. The Vancouver School Board has been given no guarantee there will be power, heat or other important services in time for the first day of school September 6th.

The 274 Carleton students will be moving over to Cunningham Elementary near Nanaimo Street and 38th Avenue. Carleton will continue to operate separately with its own teachers and staff.

The school board decided to keep Carleton students there for the entire school year. Board Chair Mike Lombardi says it’s too complicated to make a mid-year switch back. “You can’t unravel a system as large as Vancouver once you’ve made a decision, so we felt we need stability for the school year. And then we’re going to get a plan together working with the Ministry of Education about Carleton and then we’ll start our plan for next year.”

Cunningham is a 20-minute walk from Carleton. Lombardi says parents don’t necessarily have to send their kids to Cunningham. “If any parent feels more comfortable having their child at another school elsewhere, we’ll facilitate for that for them also, but we’ll also guarantee them that if Carleton is to reopen and we should make a decision to do that they can go back to Carleton.”

Parents will get more information about confirming registration at Carleton next week. “The board would like to thank the Superintendent and VSB team for working through this complex process and finding a creative solution to maintain safety, educational opportunities and community for Carleton students, families and staff after this devastating event,” says Lombardi. “We’re also grateful to the Carleton and Cunningham communities and look forward to the start of a good school year next week.”

The fire has been deemed to be suspicious.

Sir Guy Carleton Elementary is one of almost a dozen schools on a long list of proposed closures in 2017.

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