As a result of the closure of two high schools in the province last fall, the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development ordered an independent structural review of all schools constructed prior to 1980. The Department of Supply and Services worked in conjunction with EECD to conduct a review of the identified 244 schools.
Work began immediately with the creation of a project team which was responsible for finalizing the project scope, a standardized review approach and reporting formats. Supply and Services worked closely with the consulting engineers and was involved in the ongoing monitoring and maintenance to ensure the proper assessment of all the identified schools.
New Brunswick has some of the oldest schools in the country, with an average age of more than 40 years. The issues which arose in Moncton High School and Polyvalente Roland Pepin last fall, have highlighted the importance of developing a better way of strategically planning and managing the maintenance and repair of our aging schools.
The review has provided government with an overall picture of the state of our education infrastructure and will assist in making decisions around the capital budget, multi-year planning and asset management.