District hopes for 'expedited' timeline to rebuild burned-down Port Coquitlam school

The rebuilding of Hazel Trembath Elementary in Port Coquitlam could take years, a school district official said, but adds an expedited timeline is being sought.

Patricia Gartland of District 43, which runs public schools in the city, spoke to reporters Thursday in front of the blackened rubble that once was a school for 250 kids. 

She called the facility, built in the 1970s, a "total loss," but said the district and Ministry of Education are working as fast as possible to restore classes.

"I believe they're doing everything they can to expedite the process for the rebuild," Gartland said.

"A normal timeline would probably be three years, so anything sooner than that would be an expedited timeline."

The school was reduced to ash and debris Oct. 14 in a fire that police are calling suspicious.

Kids missed four days of classes but are now having their lessons at Coquitlam's Winslow Centre, a former high school now serving as a School District 43 administrative and meeting centre.

Gartland said the Kindergarten to Grade 5 pupils are mostly in good spirits.

"Some of the students said it's like a field trip every day because they get to take a bus, right?"

That said, some of the fire damage is irreplaceable, she said.

One example is how a Grade 2 teacher would get kids to write a letter to themselves about what they hope to become, which she would send to them in Grade 12.

Those undelivered letters are gone.

"So many mementos were lost," she said. "But we will start new memories and new dreams and new hopes in this new facility."

Joining Gartland at the ruined school was Insp. Darren Carr with Coquitlam RCMP, who once again urged anyone with information to come forward.

He says security and dash camera footage could prove helpful from the wee hours of Oct. 14.

"It will take some time, possibly even months before we have definitive answers, but we are certainly working towards those answers," Carr said.

He said Mounties have found about 200 hours of video, hundreds of witness statements and "numerous" tips so far.

Parents of Hazel Trembath students say answers can't come soon enough.

"Our kids are upset, they're just traumatized," said Megan Moore, the mom of a Grade 2 student. "They just don't understand, why would someone do this to our school?"

Kim O'Neill, also mother to a Grade 2 student, says her daughter is doing well at Winslow, but adds a new school can't wait.

"Hopefully this is the only move, and the next move is to a new Hazel Trembath," O'Neill said.