MOOSE JAW — Prairie South School Division plans to spend nearly $7 million during the next three years on upgrading school buildings, including replacing roofs and installing security systems in some Moose Jaw schools.
Division administration presented the 2025-27 Preventative Maintenance and Renewal (PMR) plan during the recent board of education meeting, with the document laying out the 32 projects the organization intends to pursue during the next three years.
The total amount Prairie South expects to spend is $6,793,000.
2025
The division plans to spend $2,340,000 on eight projects in 2025, with Moose Jaw initiatives focusing on:
- Lindale School: partial roof replacement for $300,000
- École Palliser Heights School: boiler replacement for $350,000
- Albert E. Peacock Collegiate: repairing a passenger elevator for $300,000
- Peacock: partial roof replacement for $450,000
- Division office: concrete deck and step replacement for $240,000
2026
The division plans to spend $2,298,000 on 16 projects in 2026, with Moose Jaw and area initiatives focusing on:
- Peacock: asphalt repairs for $100,000
- Caronport Elementary: asphalt repairs for $300,000
- Lindale: crawl space remediation for $500,000
- Central Collegiate: flooring upgrades for $150,000
- Peacock: partial roof replacement for $450,000
- Central: security camera wiring for $17,000
- Lindale: security camera wiring for $6,000
2027
The division plans to spend $2,155,000 on eight projects in 2027, with one Moose Jaw initiative focusing on:
- King George School: partial roof replacement for $400,000
Board discussion
Darren Baiton, buildings supervisor, told the board that staff changed the renovation plans to address emergent issues at three schools. Specifically, staff pulled projects focusing on Lindale’s roof, Palliser’s boiler and Peacock’s elevator from future years into 2025.
He noted that Prairie South has more than 90,000 square metres (one million square feet) of roofing to manage, so it’s positive that his department had to address only one school roof in the near term.
Meanwhile, the buildings department rescheduled three projects into future years: an entryway upgrade at Eyebrow School has been moved into 2026, a $450,000 roof replacement at Peacock has been shuffled to 2026 and a $200,000 washroom upgrade at Rockglen School has been moved to 2027.
Trustee Crystal Froese pointed out that, based on the numbers, the division is spending an average of $2.1 million annually to upgrade schools. While she thought that was reasonable, she also thought it showed just how much work the division must complete during the next three years.
“As the (report) title suggests, preventative maintenance, Darren and his team do an amazing job of keeping our facilities functioning at such a high value,” said trustee Robert Bachmann. “Then we have capacity when these emerging issues arise that they can get dealt with.”
There is always more the division could do to upgrade its buildings, but it can’t because the province has capped and reduced PMR funding for the past two years, he continued. This is unfortunate because PSSD will likely face many emerging issues in the future as its schools are old and require maintenance.
Bachmann added that the board should continue to lobby the provincial government for predictable, sustainable funding in this area.
Trustee Shawn Davidson reminded his colleagues that whenever emerging priorities arise, the division must shuffle other projects further down the list and complete them when there is money and time.
The next PSSD board meeting is Wednesday, June 5.
