BC's NDP government gets into some school spirit with some new school celebrations

It's a brand new middle school! ... For the Okanagan.
The BC Government has had a busy summer of new school announcements
to roll our pretty well everywhere but on the North Coast

As students made their way to their first day of classes on Tuesday, the BC Government was rolling out a few announcements to highlight their work in building new schools in a few areas of the province.

While students and teachers were returning to the classroom, Rob Fleming's Education Ministry shared some positive news for those living in Langley, the Okanagan and Surrey, with notes on recently completed new structures or important upgrades in others.

New RE Mountain Secondary brings modern learning to Langley students
Safer schools on the way for Surrey families
New Canyon Falls Middle School brings modern learning to Okanagan Mission students

The blitz of Tuesday announcements comes in the wake of a summer of good news for a number of British Columbia communities including the Langford riding of Premier John Horgan, which received word of two new schools from Minister Fleming. ,

You can be review the catalogue of new school announcements through the Ministers website listings.

The Middle school announcement for the Okanagan might catch the eye of parents in Prince Rupert, who may be wondering when a similar "good news" statement will come the way of SD52 and the often discussed, but yet unsuccessful quest for a replacement building for the aging and at times problem plagued Middle School on Ninth Avenue West.

Prince Rupert's aging PRMS begins a new school year

The call for a new middle school was one of the key themes to the 2017 provincial election, as North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice made the lack of progress by the Liberal government of the day one of her major campaign positions.

Yet two years into a new NDP government, which Ms. Rice is a member of, the topic has kind of faded from her social media presentations; with few updates on the urgency for replacement and more of a theme of patience to be found.

That theme coming from the MLA as part of an editorial page contribution to the weekly newspaper earlier this summer covering a wide a range of topics including education, where she observed that the province is still awaiting the completion of SD52's groundwork on the project.

The School District still had it noted it as the highest priority in June, and at that time had invited the Education Minister to make the trek north to see first hand some of the challenges faced by rural school districts, a visit that has yet to take place as far as is known.

The long sought after call for a replacement goes back many years and from our Education archives we note this entry from the start of the school year of September 2013 when the replacement was the number one priority for the District.

Six years later and with another new school year underway, that's the same building in the picture, and the same placement on the priority list.

Yet, we still seem no further ahead towards that goal of a new school today than we did then, with no timeline for replacement to make note of towards the arrival of a new facility.

Some of the history for that call for replacement can be reviewed from our notes of March of 2017

As the NDP continue to celebrate their work in building new schools across the province, locals will no doubt hope that the press release showcasing the plans for a  new Prince Rupert Middle School will be just over the horizon, as opposed to making for the narrative for the next election campaign.

Update: In an advisory through her twitter account North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice noted that the province is ready to build the school, but is awaiting further engagement from School District 52.

More background on eduction in the Northwest can be found  from our archives here.

More items of interest from the BC Legislature and the North Coast riding can be found here.

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