A new Bonnyville high school and the modernization of Iron River School remain three-year priorities for the Northern Lights School Division (NLSD).
During their March 23 board meeting, trustees agreed to move forward with submitting the division's current three-year capital plan to Alberta Education. At the top of that list, as has been in the past, is the construction of a new Bonnyville high school facility.
“Certainly, our capital plan did not change at this point. We're going through a facilities review and until we complete that fully we want to ensure that we do it right on a go-forward basis,” said NLSD Board Chair Arlene Hrynyk.
She added, “Our priorities remain the same and we will continue to advocate to bring those projects to fruition.”
Not only is the existing building that houses Bonnyville Centralized High School getting up there in age, but with a current utilization of 76 per cent, division officials see it as being unable to keep up with the growth in student numbers.
Ideally, NLSD would like to see the issue alleviated by building a school with the capacity for 650 students and a gross area of just over 6,400-square metres. Their planned location for the new high school is the school reserve site local next to the Centennial Centre – opening the door for partnerships to use the facilities within the C2. The cost for the new school is priced out at just over $25 million.
With a scheduled start date listed for Sept. 1, 2016 and Alberta's 2016 budget being released next week, trustees are eager to finally see some movement when it comes to provincial funding for the project.
“We're always hoping. Our capital plan is our wish list to the province. Unfortunately, we don't make that final decision. Our job is to influence our priorities to our MLAs and the government,” Hyrnyk said.
Coming in second and third on the division's wish list is the modernization of Ecole Plamondon and a new elementary school in Lac La Biche.
Further down on the three-year capital plan, listed as No. 5, is the demolition and modernization of Iron River School.
“Iron River School is in the capital plan, but (the government) won't plan for a new school with a capacity of under 250 students so we have it as a modernization,” explained secretary-treasurer Paula Elock.
The scope of the project includes the demolition of four classrooms, which were built between 1955 and 1957, reducing 100 excess student spaces.
A complete modernization of the remainder of the school would also take place, including upgrades to heating, ventilation and electrical components. At a cost of just under $4.7 million, the work would ensure Iron River School is able to accommodate students from Kindergarten up to Grade 9.
The total projected cost for the NLSD three-year capital plan comes in at $66.8 million.
While the projects are ranked one through five, Hrynyk expressed that doesn't necessarily reflect the division's needs. As directed by Alberta Education, school boards across the province are required to prioritize their projects. In large geographical areas, such as NLSD's, that causes their communities to essentially be in competition with each other for funding.
“We have to submit our capital plan and they look at what's No. 1, when technically to us we maybe have an equilateral No. 1 in each of our communities…it's a huge challenge in each of our rural school boards.”
The Board of Trustees also approved their 10-year capital plan. Continuing on from their top five priorities in the three-year plan, audit upgrades were identified as priorities six through nine for H.E. Bourgoin Middle School, Kikino School, Caslan School and Wandering River School. Cost estimates for the 10-year plan (with the three-year priorities included) sits at $68.4 million.
