CARROT RIVER — Carrot River’s two schools will be put under one roof.
The provincial government announced $1.3 million in its March 18 budget to begin planning an expansion to Carrot River Junior Senior High School that is big enough to contain students from that high school, the local elementary school and nearby Arborfield School.
“From the time that the planning dollars begin, it’s usually that a school is built within the next two years, so there will be more in next year’s budget,” said Donna Harpauer, the province’s finance minister.
Don Rempel, the North East School Division’s director of education, said the division and the community of Carrot River are happy with the announcement.
“We know that there's lots of pressures on government. We're really grateful that government recognized the need in Carrot River and that we're moving forward with this project.”
The director of education said the high school has been dealing with a major failing of the original gymnasium for years – one that’s serious enough to close the gym off.
“We knew that the next step forward would be to consolidate some schools in the area and to have a new K to 12 school in Carrot River.”
Remple said the school division is talking to the Town of Carrot River and other local groups about joint use opportunities. For example, in Tisdale, the school library at Tisdale Middle & Secondary School is also the town’s public library.
When the provincial government does a major school project, it has a formula to determine the amount of space that will be required by the students. Anything beyond that, like for space for a joint use, will require fundraising and will not be borne by provincial taxpayers.
Arborfield School students won’t be automatically going to the new school once it is built.
“We’ll be consulting with Arborfield and talking to them,” Rempel said. “It’s a very old, an end-of-life, school but there’s local voices to consider if and when those students would move into the new school.”
