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| The short term plan the Province has for PRMS it seems will be for some repair work with no plans yet announced for replacement for the facility |
With Premier John Horgan heading down the highway to his appointments in Terrace and Kitimat, North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice provided for the final chapter when it comes to the Premier's short visit to Prince Rupert.
Tuesday morning the MLA released the details related to 1.7 million dollars in funding for School District 52, the majority of which is ear marked for repairs to Prince Rupert Middle School.
From today's announcement which you can read here, the MLA revealed that Prince Rupert Middle school will see money allocated towards roofing work, as well as boiler and electrical upgrades.
The $1,130,000 in funding to be delivered through the Ministry of Education's School Enhancement Program.
School District 52 will also receive $666,723 part of the Annual Facilities Grant funding for routine school maintenance costs.
As part of today's funding release, the North Coast MLA noted that the province still intends to replace the Middle School as soon as possible, with Ms. Rice observing that the province is still working with the School District to complete a plan for replacing the school.
Adding that, Until everything is in place, the old school needs to fix its deficiencies in order to keep operating.
So far however, no timeline has been released as to when that replacement school project may find some forward momentum.
School District 52 has yet to comment on the nature of today's funding announcement, or the status of the School replacement plan that the province is awaiting.
As we noted earlier this month, the issue of the urgent need for a replacement for the Prince Rupert Middle School was one of the key topics for discussion during last year's election campaign.
With then opposition North Coast MLA making it clear at the time, that the need for a replacement was somewhat of an urgent matter to address the atrocious health and safety matters found at the school.'
Now that the NDP are on the government side of the Legislature, it appears a more leisurely approach towards replacement is going to be the fate of any new school plans.
Today's funding announcement also offered some good news for Haida Gwaii and the Central Coast.
The Central Coast School District (SD 49) will receive $432,000 from the School Enhancement Program to complete washroom upgrades at Bella Coola Elementary, and for washroom and safety upgrades at Sir Alexander Mackenzie Secondary in Hagensborg.
Haida Gwaii School District (SD 50) will receive $1,769,835 from the School Enhancement Fund for building envelope and retaining wall upgrades at Gudangaay Tlaats’gaa Naay Secondary School.
The school will also receive $138,053 from Carbon Neutral Capital Program to install solar panels. Haida Gwaii school district will also receive $467,357 from the School Bus Replacement Program for four replacement busses.
The Annual Facilities Grant (AFG) funding will provide $296,372 to the Central Coast School District, $542,638 to the Haida Gwaii School District.
Today's announcement on the North Coast, was just one segment of a much larger roll out of funding for School Districts across the province.
With the Ministry of Education set to deliver a range of programs to fund maintenance, energy efficiency and transportation elements.
You can review the full funding announcement here, the list of those schools to benefit from the program and the amount of their funding can be explored further from this link.
For further items related to education in the Northwest see our archive page.
A look at political issues in the region is available from our Legislature archive,
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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