Carol Baldwin
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Wakaw Recorder
As the school year gets underway, and the first week of classes has been completed, this reporter spoke with Horizon School Division’s Director of Education, Kevin Garinger, about some of the new and exciting things happening in the Division.
The contract resolution, which came about through binding arbitration of the Saskatchewan teachers’ collective bargaining agreement, resulted in the funding of over 500 positions for Classroom Complexity Teachers (CCT). In schools with 150 or more students, one full-time CCT who would be involved in supporting classrooms and teachers. Schools with student enrollments of 75 to 149 would receive a half-time CCT. Divisions were then tasked with hiring teachers to fill those roles and ensuring they were trained to do what was needed, to provide support in classrooms. Horizon School Division, Garinger stated, received funding to hire for 27 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions.
“At this point,” Garinger said, “we are in a position where we are one FTE short of having all those positions filled, and that one position is at Wynyard Composite High School. So, if somebody reads this and they are interested, they can certainly contact us.”
There was one caveat to that total, however. A half-time replacement teacher position opened at Wynyard Elementary in response to the granting of a leave. That half-time position has yet to be filled, so at this point, the full-time CCT that Wynyard Elementary were allocated is covering the half-time position and fulfilling the CCT role in the other half of their time. The Division aimed to have the CCT hiring completed in concert with hiring to fill regular classroom teaching positions in the spring, but is still waiting for the final slot to be filled.
“We’re hoping to still be able to fill that half-time classroom component [at Wynyard Elementary School] as soon as possible,” Garinger said, “but right now it’s how we’ve had to manage. We wanted to make sure we had our classroom components filled first and then make sure we got the complexity teachers.”
In other funding-related news, the funding for playground renewal is an exciting new opportunity for schools. Garinger said that School Community Councils (SCCs) have been aware of the funding coming up, and some SCCs are ready and eager to file their applications. The Division, he said, will continue to encourage schools, principals and SCCs to make sure they get those applications in. Applications for the new School Playground Equipment Grant program are now open and run from September 9, 2025, to February 25, 2026, on a first-come, first-served basis. The program, as stated in a government press release, will support “the creation of safe, accessible playgrounds on school-operated property throughout Saskatchewan.” The program will be administered in partnership with the Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association (SPRA).
“Playgrounds are critical spaces that contribute to a healthy Saskatchewan population,” Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association President Darcy McLeod said. “Investments like the School Playground Equipment Grant help instill the importance of play and physical literacy in our children and youth, which in turn will build a more active future for our province.”
Groups may apply for up to $50,000 in matching funds, with a limit of one application per school per year to build a new playground. Funds can also be used to add new equipment or replace components on an existing playground. Groups may apply again in future granting periods, but will only be considered after all new applicants have been evaluated during that intake. All projects must be completed within one year of the project approval date and must be accessible to the community.
The program is open to school community councils and parent groups affiliated with publicly funded schools, school divisions and First Nation schools in Saskatchewan. Publicly funded schools include: public, separate, Francophone, Independent (including alternative independent schools, associate schools, historical high schools, qualified independent schools and certified independent schools) and First Nations schools.
Additionally, through the new three-year National School Food Program, Horizon School Division will receive over $256,000 in additional funding to be used to support school nutrition across the Division. That amounts to a little over $40 per child, which may not sound like much, but there are already many things happening with respect to school nutrition programs in the Division, and the additional funding will help support those programs already in place. Garinger noted, “This funding will obviously enhance those programs already in place and offer us an opportunity to really ‘grow what we’re doing,’ pardon the pun, around food within our schools and communities that way. We’re very pleased with that announcement.”
“Of course,” Garinger said, “in Wakaw, we’re excited about our expanded Michif kindergarten program. It is full-time now, and that’s been an exciting component to that area and the school, obviously.”
On the topic of capital builds, construction is nearing completion on the new amalgamated Kelvington School. Most of the classroom spaces are complete, and everything is on schedule for a December completion date. Then at Lanigan, work continues on the front parking lot area, and inside the school, where they are dealing with deficiencies. Generally speaking, the pre-K to 12 school has been operational since May, but students only moved into the new school this school year.
The Division is also just finalizing a couple of portable requests that were approved, one of them was at Humboldt Public School, and one was at Humboldt Collegiate Institute (HCI) in Humboldt, in response to growing student populations and trying to meet those needs.
Wakaw School is on the major capital project list for the second year now, along with two other schools. Garinger confirmed that a school replacement or refurbishment is required for the community. The Division remains hopeful, but at the same time, acknowledges that there is a need across the province, not just in Wakaw. So, in the meantime, everyone has to wait and continue to harbour hope that the government will make that decision on Wakaw School soon.
Garinger added that there may potentially be some changes coming to the minor capital projects classification. Currently, minor capital projects include those costing $1 million or more to $10 million; anything above that would be on the major capital project list. If changes do come to the minor capital project criteria, then potentially that could allow for certain projects to be funded through that avenue. It would be a real possibility then, for some schools in Horizon SD to meet the threshold through the minor list, which, Garinger said, is an easier way of getting a capital project in the works. A minor capital project would be a rebuild as opposed to a brand-new construction.
In 2023, Wakaw School was on the Division’s proposed major renovations project list that was submitted to the government. However, in its assessment of infrastructure, the Division determined that maintenance and improvements are no longer cost-effective. That, coupled with the fact that Wakaw School had experienced the most growth in the last four years and is also aging out the fastest, led to the consensus that a new K-12 school is in order and was added to the Horizon School Division’s major capital projects list for the 2024-25 school year. A year ago, Wakaw School was operating at 105% capacity, a significant increase from its 87% capacity four years prior.
Wakaw School is a good candidate for a major capital project because of the nature of the aging building and the growing community, Garinger said. What separates it from some of the other places where maybe a new school is required is that it is not a community with declining enrollment and things like that. Wakaw School enrollment has been on a steady increase, and the school shared on its Facebook page that over the past several months, spaces have been repurposed and redesigned and somehow, within those same solid brick walls, five new classrooms and seven new learning spaces have been created.
