This project is undertaken by members of the Cowichan Valley retired Teacher's Association who have formed the Cowichan Valley Schools Heritage Society, with the financial support of the British Columbia Retired Teacher's Association.  Our aim is to preserve the educational history of School District 79.  This project focuses on the old schools no longer in service, approximately 155 of which have been identified.  For Phase One, 15 of these schools are honoured with signage in the shape of a school bell placed as close as possible to the original site of the school. Currently there are twelve members on the commitee headed by retired school teacher Bob King.

 

Over the past twelve years, the Cowichan Valley Schools Heritage Society (CVSHS) has recorded 155 – and counting – decommissioned schools within the boundaries of School District No. 79 (Cowichan Valley) which extend 25 km. north, 35 km. south, 10 km. east and 40 km. west of the City of Duncan.  Some of these schools were replaced with new buildings on the same site.

 

Others became redundant due to population shifts. A surprising number of schools that serviced students living in logging, lumbering or mining camps have totally disappeared! A few schools remained intact and today are used for other purposes or are protected by preservation societies.

With such a list of former schools it was decided that as much of these schools’ history as possible should be researched and recorded, and the sites permanently marked. In 2012 a CVSHS decision was made to:

• Design a suitable sign.

• Establish a first phase of 15 sites that would have strong local interest and be visible in the various communities within the Cowichan Valley.

• Implement the project at a reasonable cost.

 

Our preliminary estimates, based on quotations, showed that the project would need $3000 in funding. An application for a grant supported by the Cowichan Valley Retired Teachers’ Association and the Cowichan Valley Museum and Archives was made to the BCRTA Heritage Committee for that sum and it was approved.

Local support for the Phase 1 Project was phenomenal! The CVSHS garnered the support of all the current property owners of the original school sites and all the local governments having jurisdiction within the boundaries of School District No. 79.

 

Especially notable was the support from the school district trustees and senior staff. The school district works department volunteered to manufacture backings for the signs, provide posts at cost and do the installation of all signs on their own time. Even the commercial sign maker enthusiastically came onside with very beneficial cost reductions. As a result of all these cost savings the project was below budget allowing the printing of self-guided tour brochures of the Phase 1 schools for distribution to local museums, information centres, local governments, schools and individual community members.

This project has gained a positive public awareness through newspaper articles, oral presentations to groups and the brochures. Such has been the response that new information and relevant artifacts useful to the Society’s ongoing research have been uncovered.

 

We believe that we are changing attitudes toward the preservation of the history of education in the Cowichan Valley. We are also creating a means of ensuring an ongoing historical record will be preserved into the future. With at least 76 decommissioned schools still to be permanently marked and documented, the Cowichan Valley Schools Heritage Society has a lot of work to complete.

 

Bob King, President

Member, Cowichan Valley Retired Teachers’ Association President, Cowichan Valley School Heritage Society