The Prince Albert Catholic School Division has re-submitted plans to upgrade Ecole St. Mary High School and the second part of an upgrade to St. John Community School.
Both projects will be submitted to the province’s Minor Capital Renewal Program for 2027-28 applications. The Catholic School Division board approved the submission at their regular meeting on Feb. 23.
“We were very successful with our first phase in the St. John minor capital, but of course, we could have used some extra dollars to still resolve some other issues,” Education Director Lorel Trumier said. “Roofing issues are the highest cost that we see forthcoming and we had submitted this after several conversations with the ministry.
“We’re hoping that they will approve the second phase of this to complete the project.”
The second phase of the St. John Community School project will help alleviate challenges with water including drainages issues in the school grounds and parking lot, roof leaks and moisture getting into walls.
According to the memo, the Preventative Maintenance and Renewal (PMR) funds are insufficient to address these issues. The Catholic Division has commissioned a report by AODBT Architecture to support the application.
“We’re extremely grateful for these opportunities because it does support extending the life of our schools,” Trumier said.
The Minor Capital Renewal for St. Mary project will allow the school to address safety risks and allow programming to continue uninterrupted. It includes items like replacement of air handling units and heating system components and replacement of windows and doors to address energy efficiency.
The project is planned to start in 2027-2028 and end in 2028-2029.
Administration recently received a letter from the Ministry of Education notifying them that the applications for the 2027-2028 Minor Capital Renewal Program were open until Feb.13.
The Minor Capital Renewal Program is for projects between $1 million and $10 million and can be completed in one to two years. Each school division in the province can submit up to two projects.
“We know that we take good care of our schools and that our schools look good and are functional, but there’s always places that require maintenance and renewal and these are the perfect opportunities to submit that,” Trumier said.
The last project approved in the division involved St. John Community School. The division received notice in early June 2023 that the Ministry of Education had approved proceeding with the renovations.
The project included renovations to improve the bathrooms, kitchen and library. Other interior upgrades include the replacement of boilers, roof top units, windows, lighting, doors, flooring, wheelchair lift, furniture, equipment, relocatable classroom roofing and surveillance were also included in the project.
