A meeting later this month will provide more information on the future of the Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS).
The gathering will occur at ECS on Jan. 27 at 7 p.m.
Earlier this week, it was announced that four local entities – the South East Cornerstone Public School Division, the Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division, the City of Estevan and the Estevan Police Service – are all working together in the development of an Educational Facility Master Plan for the community.
Holy Family and South East Cornerstone are hosting the meeting.
Liam Choo Foo, who is acting as a consultant for the project, described the meeting as a chance to discuss some of the processes involved and some of the existing circumstances they have to address.
“At a very high level, there are thoughts around what they want to do,” said Choo Foo.
Partners will update the public on their work thus far and some of the existing circumstances that have brought them to this point, and share their vision for the future on how to get there.
“This is being driven mainly by the school divisions, and they’re looking for opportunities from other partners,” said Choo Foo. “As far as the police service in Estevan and the City of Estevan, they’re more than willing to look at the opportunities that are available, but they’re not the driving force behind it.”
The information that will be presented is pretty preliminary, he said.
He believes the catalyst came a few years ago, when the board saw ECS was in need of some significant upgrades but the student enrolment was declining.
“They were running into a challenge at that facility with the number of students who were there. They realized they had to do something.”
The public has indicated a desire to do whatever is needed to maintain the diverse programming at the Comp.
But there has also been a directive to see if anyone else had facility needs within the community.
“We all know that dollars are pretty scarce, so the further you can stretch a dollar working together, the better off you are,” said Choo Foo. “There were conservations among possible partners in the city to see if anything could come together.”
