SD52 to receive 1.5 million in funding for school enhancement

The Province of British Columbia has allocated 1.5 million
from a 206 million dollar program for maintenance
on Schools in Prince Rupert

Three Prince Rupert schools will be getting some improvements as part of a 1.5 million dollar funding announcement today by the Ministry of Education, the money for the North Coast part of a 206 million dollar program for maintenance projects and energy upgrades across the province.

The three schools of the Prince Rupert District that have been tagged for the funding include:

A boiler replacement project for Lax Keen Elementary

Electrical and mechanical upgrades for Charles Hays Secondary

Replacement of pneumatic controls at Pineridge Elementary

Education Minister Rob Fleming noted how the money that has been announced today will help to address maintenance plans that required larger resources for the improvement of the facilities.

“For too many years, maintenance projects weren’t funded properly, and now we are providing school districts with increased resources to improve schools for students,” ... “This funding provides better instructional environments for both teachers and learners to focus more of their energies on student success.”

Projects are also planned for a number of other School District's in the region which will receive the funding as part of the School Enhancement Program

Bulkley Valley School District 54 -- $962,320

Coast Mountain School District 82 -- $1,595,000

Stikine School District 87 -- $870,000

Nechako Lakes School District -- $2,027,300

Nisga' School District 92 -- $860,000

Haida Gwaii, School District 50 -- $530,000

Central Coast School District 49 -- $761,000

You can review what projects are planned for each of the above School Districts here.

North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice shared word of the funding through her range of Social Media portals this afternoon, highlight the spread of close to three million dollars for three corners of her constituency.

While the funding for the three schools of SD52 will be welcome news for the community; parents, teachers and students of Prince Rupert Middle School may all be more interested in hearing a long overdue update about plans for the replacement program for their school and when the new school will begin to take shape.

The North Coast MLA made the PRMS issue one of the main election topics of 2017 as the NDP challenged the handling of education by the Liberal government of the day.

This month marks the two year mark since the the opposition MLA rose in the Legislature calling for action for the delivery of a new middle school.

"When can parent's, teachers and children in Prince Rupert expect to see these atrocious health and safety matters addressed, and when can they see a much, much needed middle school" --MLA Jennifer Rice in the Legislature in March of 2017

However, since taking office as government the PRMS replacement topic has been a little less prominent in her talking points both in the Legislature and in the North Coast constituency.

The replacement of the aging middle school remains one of the top priorities for SD52 from an extensive list of strategic planning initiatives that were outlined last June.

Last March, the School District received 1.7 million dollars in funding towards repairs for the school.

For more notes of interest from Victoria see our archive page here.

A look at items of note from Education across the Northwest is available here.

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