A review of public school facilities in southeast Saskatchewan is going to start with $50,000 in seed money allocated by the South East Cornerstone Public School Division.
The trustees voted in favour of a motion to put the wheels in motion for a facility development framework.
Marc Casavant, director of education for the division said that "as a facility reaches a certain age, costs escalate and at some point it gets to be more efficient to rebuild rather than keep repairing."
He noted that between five and 10 years of age, maintenance events in schools are pretty predictable but beyond that, the costs can start moving rapidly forward. He also noted that space utilization in very old schools is a challenge since "70 years ago, the utilization needs were different than they are now. Today the government looks to fund teachable space based on a formula," noting how square footage and student population becomes an integral part of that formula.
Trustee Kevin Keating said he saw where the value comes from in starting to chart the course so that longer term planning could begin.
"There is overcapacity at Spruce Ridge and under capacity at Estevan Comprehensive School as a couple of examples," said Casavant.
"This needs to be discussed at the community level. We'll be meeting with the community development manager of the Estevan Chamber of Commerce soon regarding Estevan's growth expectations. Local and provincial politicians will need to be involved to ask the questions about what they can do," Casavant said.
"The K to 8 schools are full, but can the space that's available at ECS be used for what it is built for? We need to engage the school community councils ... open up the conversation."
Board chairman Harold Laich said the project is something they can engage in during their summer discussions. He noted the subject came up as conversations regarding the planning for the Weyburn Comprehensive School's major rebuilding project was put under the spotlight.
Bryan Wilson, a trustee from Weyburn, noted that movement is afoot to close Haig School in that city as well as the aging Queen Elizabeth School once the junior high school is rebuilt and refurbished to accommodate elementary students, while the junior high students will attend school in the newly rebuilt Comprehensive School.
Later in an interview with The Mercury, Casavant expanded a bit on the original discussion around the board table, noting that it would be "prudent to talk with the City of Estevan about their strategic plan regarding growth and in terms of students, where they saw educational facilities going in the future both short term and long term.
"There is no more money from government for capital infrastructure, so what are the options? That's why we consider it important that MLA Doreen Eagles is at the table too, because there will be political implications regarding the reviews," Casavant said.
The director went on to say that all options will be open for the use of the available space at ECS since the government will no longer fund empty spaces in any school and there is a lot of that at the school since the Southeast Regional College vacated the facility in favour of setting up classes and courses in the nearby Saskatchewan Energy Training Institute.
Casavant added that opening up more discussions on First Nations and Metis programming is also vital and part of the facilities framework review.
"That's why we want to talk with Michel Cyrenne and the regional college and Chamber of Commerce members and local and provincial politicians ... to find out what is working and what isn't. We should be setting up a series of meetings over the next two to three years and build on what we can do together. Even helping students transition to work sites can be done more smoothly if, for instance, we're on the same page with the regional college and we have a level of understanding with the business community. The principals at each of these institutions need to hear the presentations too. We need to engage the oil companies, SaskPower, the mines and start asking them what we can do. We just heard the other day about a government task force finding out that offering driver training on a First Nations reserve might solve a lot of problems. So let's take care of that. Those are the kinds of things we must always be talking about at all facilities and with all programs," Casavant said in conclusion.
