It is a huge opportunity for both the local schools and the citizens of Humboldt.
During a ceremony on December 11, the City of Humboldt, the Horizon School Division (HZSD) and the Greater Saskatoon Catholic School Division (GSCS) signed a Joint Use Agreement between the Humboldt schools and the City.
The agreement will allow the schools in Humboldt to utilize city facilities for class time and for citizens of Humboldt and organizations to use the schools on evenings and weekends.
"Ours is a common goal that is to provide a high quality education and opportunities for our students and communities that will set them on the road to success," said Wil Lengyel of HZSD. "The concept of a shared facilities agreement is simple - to share resources to keep costs down and communities healthy, which is in turn a benefit to everyone."
The schools will be allowed to use the city facilities - such as the ice surface, swimming pool and curling rink - during school physical education classes.
"In a time where our province and many cities are experiencing unprecedented growth, this agreement is good for our students and good for the city," said Debbie Berscheid of GSCS.
Both Berscheid and Lengyel agreed it is a huge opportunity for the students.
"Through this agreement, we have turned some of (our) challenges into opportunities for our students and community," said Lengyel.
Cory Popoff, the principal of Humboldt Collegiate Institute, the school connected to the Uniplex, said HCI students have already been taking advantage of the City facilities.
"It is positively affecting our programs and it opens the doors for a lot of programming options," said Popoff. "Next semester, we have a (exercise) class that will be taking advantage not only of our own facilities, but also of the fitness centre, swimming pool and the ice surface."
The agreement will also help the citizens of Humboldt and many different groups and organizations.
"The notion is that we share a common vision and we look forward to a future that is filled with additional opportunities where we can work together," said Mayor Malcolm Eaton.
Darrell Lessmeister, the director of Community and Leisure Services for the City explained the City will take bookings for school facilities starting in January.
"I believe they are back in school by January 3 and we are going to start taking bookings here in the new year for (people) who want to book into school facilities," said Lessmeister. "There might be the opportunity that classrooms are available but it will be mostly around gymnasium space.
"It is definitely a win-win for everybody," he added. "I know, with the attachment of the high school, they are using the aquatic centre and the rink ... and it has been good for them. In return, the community gets to use the school's facilities."
He said it will be easier on the school with people booking through the city.
"We will be doing bookings through central administration through the Uniplex, which will be convenient," said Lessmeister. "Users are used to coming here to book a hall, swimming pool and other things."
Not only will it be easier for people to book facilities, it will also make planning events less stressful.
"The nice thing is now we can take on booking all the facilities together," said Lessmeister. "We may have someone who wants a Tuesday and Thursday but can't get in one facility. We will have an option of four facilities so it makes it a lot more accessible and available to the community groups."
Lessmeister explained there is a lot of interest in providing public programming and the Joint Use Agreement will make it easier.
The City is proud to be offering this to the citizens of Humboldt.
"We have a vibrant growing community here with a lot of energy and we are going to be a growing community and a growing region," said Eaton. "We look forward to future opportunities to create shared partnerships to take advantage of those opportunities of growth in the future. I thank you very much for all the work we have done to make this a reality."
