The provincial government announced support for a new replacement school in Shellbrook and a major renovation project at Christopher Lake school on Budget Day.
After the announcement, the Saskatchewan NDP sent out a press release arguing that Moe was prioritizing schools in his own riding ahead of other school divisions. However, Saskatchewan Rivers School Division Board Chair Cher Bloom said that the division has been advocating for the new school in Shellbrook since before Moe was Premier.
“We have been advocating as a school board for a little over a decade for the Shellbrook amalgamation,” Bloom said. “That has been our number one capital project request from the government for that many years.”
Bloom said recent weather conditions have highlighted just how urgent the need is. She said the last several day of snow melt have led to leaks in the school’s roof.
“In the last several years, we have put money into just maintaining the roof on that school,” Bloom said. “It’s a constant battle with the roof leaking every spring and with this year having the amount of snow we did.”
Following the budget announcement, the NDP issued a press release stating that “Scott Moe is building a new school in his hometown, despite more than 200 others across Saskatchewan being in more desperate need of renovations or a complete rebuild.”
The NDP argued that analysis of the government’s own data on the current condition of Saskatchewan schools shows there are 13 in “critical” condition, another 132 schools in “poor” condition and more than 200 in worse shape than the existing school in Shellbrook.
“The Premier gets a shiny new school in Shellbrook while students learning in more than 200 others get leaky or entirely collapsed roofs, a lack of space for student desks and lockers and entire wings that can no longer accommodate student learning,” NDP Education Shadow Minister Matt Love said in the press release.
Love also held a press conference in Saskatoon about this matter.
Bloom explained the Shellbrook project has always been a priority for Saskatchewan Rivers.
“The elementary school has been above capacity for students in there, so then having one school for K to 12 was what we have advocated for,” Bloom said.
The division said that these significant investments will enhance learning environments for students and staff, while supporting the long-term sustainability of schools in both communities.
“The new school in Shellbrook will provide a modern, purpose-built learning environment designed to meet the needs of today’s learners, while the renovation at Christopher Lake School will revitalize and enhance existing spaces to better support student success,” reads a Saskatchewan Rivers School Division press release.
Bloom also is the Rural Trustee for the area in Subdivision 4. She said she sees the school’s condition on a monthly basis, and has had two children who were students there.
“You’re always are aware of the needs,” she said. “The division has kept it (up) and it looks in great shape, but you see all those faults when springtime comes and the flooding happens.”
Bloom said the NDP is attempting to pit school divisions against each other by focusing on the new school in Shellbrook.
She said some residents are under the impression that the Shellbrook school isn’t the division’s top capital project, but Bloom said that’s not the case.
“It has been (the top project) for over a decade,” she said. “The fact that rural schools are something that the government is finding beneficial rather than just looking at city schools where the population is, is also something that we’re happy to see when we have both an urban and rural split division.”
Bloom explained that the last school build in Saskatchewan Rivers was Vincent Massey School in Prince Albert, which was constructed in 2004. The division’s last major capital project was the CPAC at Carlton Comprehensive Public High School in 2014. Bloom said the division put some of their own funds into the CPAC project.
Bloom said it is difficult enough to get into the Top 10 Major Capital projects in the province and to move from Top 10 in 2025 Budget to construction approval in 2026 is amazing progress. Sometimes projects can be stuck in the Top 10 and not reach construction approval for years.
“We’ve been very good at advocating reasons why our school hasn’t moved into the top 10 earlier and I guess we received some traction by doing all the advocating because every time we met with MLAs or the Minister of Education that’s something that we pushed for: a new school in Shellbrook,” Bloom said.
“Then we were also pleased to have an announcement of a minor capital project in Christopher Lake. To have two capital projects awarded that have been on our list for a long time was somewhat rewarding for the board to see that somebody’s listening,” Bloom said.
Mike Hurd the former Superintendent of Facilities for Sask Rivers, gave an interview to the Herald in 2024 saying the project has been kicking around for around a decade
“I believe it was 2014 we had meetings with the School Community Council, with the community itself, the town of Shellbrook, as well as the MLA (Scott Moe) who is the Premier,” Hurd explained in the 2024 interview.
“We did a feasibility study and applied for the school back in 2014 and then we revisited the feasibility study in 2019. We had it completely redone again, just to make sure that nothing had changed. They did a complete review of that, and we resubmitted that again, so we have been submitting probably now for 10 years.”
In a release last week, the division said that it recognizes the importance of strong partnerships in bringing projects like these to life and appreciates the Government of Saskatchewan’s commitment to supporting education in rural communities.
In 2024 Hurd said the new school would consolidate the Kindergarten to Grade 5 Shellbrook Elementary School and the Grade 6 to 12 W.P. Sandin School into one building. Hurd said that the new school would give them another 50 years of life for the facility if not more.
Last week in a media scrum in Regina, Minster of Education Everett Hindley made much the same points as Bloom and Hurd.
“It’s actually been a priority for that school division for a number of years,” he said. “(It’s) well over a decade, I’m told, where it has been their number one priority for the school division. It’s certainly in need of replacement due to the age of the existing schools in Shelbrook.”
Hindley said that there was no favouritism in selecting Shellbrook even with it being in the Premier’s riding. He said that schools have been built in ridings that are represented by NDP MLAs and Saskatchewan Party MLAs since the government took power.
“Last budget year, we had five new schools announced in Saskatoon. There’s one government MLA…the year prior to that, five schools in the City of Regina. There’s no government MLAs in the City of Regina. We recognize that these are all important,” Hindley said.
“It’s a matter of doing our best to work with school divisions.”
Hindley said that it is about taking the priority list divisions submit and spreading it around to make sure they can address enrollment pressures and also needs of communities that have schools that need to be replaced.
Hurd said the current concept building is in the 5,000 square metre range for size, which will make it smaller than the combined size of the two current schools. The new school will be built on the track next to the current high school, which will be demolished.
The original Shellbrook High School was built in 1961, with additions in 1964, 1966, 1968 and 1985 when the wing on the east side of the school was built.
According to an internal memo provided to the Daily Herald the option the Division selected proposes that the two schools be combined. The memo states that this option has shown success in places like Hudson Bay and Langenberg and often attracts corporate partners and other funding partners in the community to help cover additional amenities not funded by the Ministry of Education.
It also stated that the combined enrolment numbers of the two schools would allow benefits and program models that would not be available in two separate schools. It would also decrease redundancies such as having two Resource Centres (libraries).
Further details regarding timelines and next steps will be shared as they become available according to the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
