Hazel Trembath Elementary to be rebuilt but parents remain concerned over uncertain timeline

By TUAN TRAN

Since Hazel Trembath Elementary burned down in October 2023, parents and students at the Port Coquitlam school have been left in limbo — relocated to a temporary school, dealing with deteriorating conditions, and longing for stability.

The provincial government has finally confirmed that the school will be rebuilt. But without a concrete timeline, parents are concerned that their children may never step foot into the new school before they move on to higher grades.

The fire destroyed Hazel Trembath and forced students to relocate to Winslow Centre, a shared district building serving as a School District No. 43 administrative and meeting centre in Coquitlam. In the months following the relocation, parents voiced growing concerns over the facility’s conditions and the disruptions it caused to the 215 children who attend the school.

Parental concerns about substitute facility

“For the longest time, the kids were losing educational time,” said Shawna Comey, a parent who has been advocating for a rebuild since the fire. “They didn’t have a playground at their school or a proper library.”

Comey said the students gather at Hazel Trembath Elementary School to wait for a 20-minute bus to transport them to the substitute school. The travel time cuts into students’ breaks and study time.

She said parents are worried about the facility’s deteriorating state as it is scheduled for demolition.

“In the last couple of months, there’s been some plumbing issues,” said Comey. “In a few of the classrooms, there was coloured water coming out of the taps, discoloured water and smells from certain areas of the building because of the plumbing.”

Comey also said there are many parents who are concerned about strangers. Winslow Centre is a shared district building, so there are other people in the building.

Governments response

Port Coquitlam Coun. Glenn Pollock said he finds the rebuild announcement delay situation strange.

“I, like many people, assumed insurance would kick in and insurance would pay for it and we’d get the school built quite quickly,” said Pollock. “I still haven’t gotten an answer to why that isn’t the case.”

Pollock said that the school board was “as strong as they could be” in advocating for the rebuilding of the school and that it pressured Mike Farnworth, NDP MLA for Port Coquitlam, for the school to be rebuilt.

“[Mike] assured us he was fighting on his side as well to get it rebuilt,” said Pollock. “We were a little surprised when it wasn’t mentioned in the [provincial] budget specifically, but then it came out shortly after that the Hon. Bowen Ma, minister of infrastructure, said it was being built.”

According to a social media post made by Michael Thomas, chair of the region’s board of education, Thomas has received notice from the minister of infrastructure that the provincial government has finally approved the capital plan “for the replacement of Hazel Trembath Elementary School as part [of] budget 2025,” but there has yet to be any official announcement as Thomas also noted in the post that “some details remain while we await the formal approval letter.”

“Our principal hasn’t even heard anything,” said Comey. “But now that they have announced it … It’s great news that they’re rebuilding, but are they going to take their sweet time?”

The Voice has reached out to the School District No. 43 and chair Michael Thomas for comments but did not receive a reply before the deadline.

Editors note: The original article wrote Hon. Bowen Ma as Hon. Bowen Maw. This has been amended. This story was updated at 11:33 p.m. on April 4.