Conrad elementary school among those to receive funding for new playground structure in BC

New playground equipment is on the way for Conrad Elementary School,
following a new funding program announced by the BC Government on Tuesday
(photo from Google maps)

John Horgan and Jennifer Rice are going to be pretty popular at recess next year, as the NDP government delivers over 5 million dollars in funding for playground renovations, with 105,000 dollars to be directed towards equipment at Conrad Elementary School.

The North Coast MLA shared word of the playground plans on Tuesday with an information release that provided some background to the plan to provide new play structures for three schools in the North Coast Riding.

Along with Conrad in Prince Rupert, Bella Coola Elementary and Gudgangaay Tlats’gaa Naay Secondary in Masset will all receive the 105,000 dollars, the latter to build a new playground at the secondary school to accommodate the elementary school that will be moving into the secondary school next year.

“Playgrounds should be part of a healthy childhood no matter where you live,” ... “In the past, parent groups had to raise matching dollars to get a new playground, but our new program means parents don’t have to become full-time fundraisers for their kids to be able to play.” -- MLA Jennifer Rice on the province's new approach to funding playground equipment in BC

In addition to the injection of funding for the new projects which will be that of an ongoing program, the Province is also changing the nature of the fund for playground development in the future, which will mean that local Parent's Advisory Council's or PAC's as they are known by, will no longer have to raise funding for playground equipment and can put their focus on other requirements at their local schools.

That was a theme that Education Minister Rob Fleming addressed as part of yesterday's roll out of the new approach to playground funding:

“I’ve heard from parents that they need relief from fundraising tens of thousands of dollars for playground equipment – that’s a lot of bake sales and bottle drives for today’s busy parents,” “Today, we’re delivering this fund to help parents, and provide access to communities that don’t have the fundraising capacity to buy the play equipment students need.”

The North Coast money is part of a wider province wide program introduced yesterday, you can review the full scope of that project here.

Some background on School District 52 is available here.

For more items of note related to the Legislature see our archive page here.

A wider overview of developments in Victoria can be reviewed from our political blog D'Arcy McGee.