Parents to stage rally over the Eric Hamber secondary replacement project

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – After months of worrying about what a Vancouver’s high school replacement will look like, parents are planning a protest at Eric Hamber secondary on Tuesday.

The Parent Advisory Committee says the replacement school will be 32 per cent smaller than the current one.

RELATED: Parents, alumni say plans for Eric Hamber Secondary replacement inadequate

The plans don’t include a replacement auditorium. Gymnasium space will be reduced, as will areas to house the school’s fashion design program.

“Programs at Hamber such as the fine arts program and the international fashion design program have long been held in high regard in the community,” says Andrea Nicholson, a coordinator for Eric Hamber Alumni.

The Ministry of Education says the new school will be approximately 15,000 square metres in size, room for 1,700 students from grades 8 to 12.

RELATED: Vancouver’s Eric Hamber Secondary to be rebuilt

But Nicholson says the plans don’t account for expected growth in population along Oak and Cambie.

“With the new Oakridge Mall, the Heather Lands and the development at the old transit site (on Oak and 41st) it should at least accommodate the current population of the school, ” she says.

“The size won’t accommodate the current study body. They are going to be capping population for the school. It seems absolutely ridiculous because the number of students is going to grow.”

Eric Hamber was originally built in 1962.

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The replacement school will be located on the northwest corner of the existing site, and will also include a childcare facility.

Once students are moved into the new school, which was expected to happen in the fall of 2022, the old school is slated to act as a ‘swing’ school, for students displaced by other seismic projects. It will eventually be torn down.

The rally against the current plans happens on Tuesday, at 3:30 p.m. at the school. Nicholson hopes parents whose kids attend elementary feeder schools will attend, given they will be the ones occupying the school in a few years time.

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