Less than five months after opening a new high school in North Burnaby, the school district is already asking the province for money to build a 300-student addition.
The school board approved the district's 2025-26 capital plan submission – an annual wish list outlining the district's building needs – at a meeting Tuesday.
Among the district's requests is a $29.4-million, 12-classroom "pre-fabricated modular addition" for Burnaby North Secondary that will increase the school's capacity by 300 students.
The $116.6-million high school is new and only opened to students in January, but it was already "slightly over capacity" then, according to secretary-treasurer Ishver Khunguray.
"There has been rapid growth in the north area of the city," he told the NOW in an emailed statement.
Burnaby North isn't the only crowded high school in North Burnaby or even the one with the biggest projected need for additions, according to the capital plan.
The district is also requesting a total of $68.9 million for two phases of additions at Alpha Secondary, the first a 12-classroom addition and the second an 18-classroom build.
And that’s after a $27.2-million seismic upgrade and partial replacement was completed at Alpha in 2019.
"With the current rate of growth projected to continue, it's anticipated that Burnaby North and Alpha combined will be approximately 30 per cent over capacity in the next 10 years," Khunguray said.
If the additions get Education Ministry support, they would take about 18 to 36 months to complete, according to Khunguray.
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