One year since Hazel Trembath Elementary burned to the ground

It’s a bittersweet Thanksgiving long weekend for some parents and students in Port Coquitlam.

Monday marks one year since Hazel Trembath Elementary School was destroyed in a massive, suspicious fire and there are still no public plans to rebuild the school.

In September, 1130 NewsRadio spoke to Shawna Comey. She has two kids who attended the school.

“We don’t know what the year holds. We don’t know what the next two years hold.”

She said she hoped her kids would be able to return the Hazel Trembath but was quickly losing hope.

“If they don’t plan to rebuild, then what’s going to happen with our kids? This is what’s on everybody’s forefront of their mind right now.”

At the end of the previous school year, she says the district sent the Ministry of Education three options.

“The ministry asked for three different proposal options. The first one was a traditional rebuild, which would be three to five years. The second option would be a modular prefab build, which would be 18 months to two years, is what we were told. That’s the one I was kind of hoping for,” Comey explained.

“And the third option was not rebuilding at all and dispersing the kids between two community schools and adding on additions to those schools, and that’s what we hope doesn’t happen.”

Comey is grateful there was a solution for kids to go to another school but she still wants answers. The displaced students have been attending classes at the Winslow Centre in Coquitlam, which is a roughly 20- to 25-minute ride away for most children.

“They are being school-bused to another community, not even in our own community. They have shortened days. They don’t have a proper playground. They don’t get music class. They get shortened lunch and recess. So, there are some pros, but also a lot of cons.”

The RCMP investigation remains open, despite no arrests.

“At this time, we believe that the fire was human-caused and are asking those responsible or those individuals who may know who is responsible to contact the Coquitlam RCMP,” said Coquitlam RCMP Insp. Darren Carr in March.

“We understand that the loss of the school has had a tremendous impact on the entire community and police continue to actively pursue this complex investigation.”