Cooperation Key As New Joint-Use School Location Officially Announced
By Robert Thomas
Collaboration and working together has paid off big time for the City, the two school divisions, the community but most importantly the students coming to learn attendees at the official announcement of Westheath as the site for the new South Hill Joint-Use School were told at the official announcement Thursday morning. The site is located in the empty field adjacent to the intersection of Wellington Drive and Spadina Drive.
At the announcement Premier Scott Moe was joined by local dignitaries and representatives of both the Prairie South School Division (PSSD) and Holy Trinity Catholic School Division (HTCSD) in officially announcing the new facility’s location.
In a ceremony punctuated with the sounds of aircraft flying overhead and standing by a sign which leaves no doubt where the new school location is Premier Moe spoke to enthstiastic attendees what the new school will mean for Moose Jaw.
“This new facility will be a modern school, a welcoming school and it will be designed to accomodate about 900 students. It will not only provide for the educational needs of this community but it will also serve as a hub for childcare and a hub for community development,” Premier Moe said.
Community input will be important to ensure the school contributed to the community for generations.
“It will be a community school in every sense of the word. Students, teachers and families. They will all be consulted in the design and construction of this facility. This new facility will meet the needs of Moose Jaw when it opens in the Fall of 2022. And it will meet those needs for decades after.”
Co-operation between all parties was important for the school to take shape.
“I want to take the opportunity to thank the City of Moose Jaw for working together with the Ministry of Education as well as both school divisions,” Premier Moe said.
Premier Scott Moe at the announcement - MJ Independent photo
The theme of cooperation was expanded on in the remarks of Mayor Fraser Tolmie.
“To build better communities you need strong community partners. And those strong community partners must want to build a better community,” Mayor Tolmie said. “Two school boards collaborating and working together and recognizing the need to combine two schoold under one roof. And those two school boards, the City of Moose Jaw and the Province of Saskatchewan can prove we can work together to provide education for generations to come.”
Where we stand now is just a greenfield but in the future children of the next generation will be given the opportunity to learn to read, to learn to write, learn how to count, learn how to interact with one another,” he said.
The announcement took on a campaign overtone as the Premier spoke about the new joint use school as being part of a plan by the SaskParty government to restart, rebuild and expand the economy as the Province was on the backside of the pandemic.
The provincial government plans to spend $7.5 billion over the next two years to re-ignite and stimulate the economy and the joint-use school is part of that initiative.
“Without a growing economy we would not have been able to build a new hospital in Moose Jaw. Without a growing economy we would not have been able to increase revenue sharing to Moose Jaw by 142 percent. Without a growing economy we would not have had the resources to invest in the new joint use school to replace these four schools in Moose Jaw,” he said.
“I am truly convinced Saskatchewan will come out the other side stronger then we were before. The fundamentals of the Saskatchewan economy haven’t changed a bit. We still have the resources that a growing and recovering world needs. The food, the fuel, the fertilizer and the basic character of our province hasn’t changed.”
“We will continue to offer hope to the next generation and after that we will continue to offer our childen we have had,” Premier Moe said.
Moose Jaw Wakamow MLA Greg Lawrence said the project has drawn out the best in Moose Jaw residents as they have passionately worked to advance the project.
This announcement today is a culmination of what collaboration can do, MLA Lawrence said.
Both board chairs - Derek Hassen from HTCSD and Robert Bachmann from PSSD - said they were thrilled to be taking another big step along the path in the school’s development. They both commended the Ministry of Education for moving the project along.
“This is a generational project one which may serve a thousand students per year and it will certainly serve families for decades to come,” Hassen said. “This site was selected for a number of reasons. It is a clean slate. It has a number of options first and foremost safety. Secondly it is what could be when you have a wonderful space like this. And of course bring four schools into one location you require ample space.”
Bachmann said the location chosen in Westheath was ideal as it was unfettered by current land use and it allowed the “attention to safety that only this greenfield location provides.”
MJ Independent asked a question to the Premier on the issue of whether or not there were any concerns about water and sewer infrastructucture capacities or unknown problems cropping up and if the Province would pay to rectify those problems Premier Moe spoke about water security in the region deferring the local question to Mayor Tolmie.
The question about potential infrastructure problems and the added costs to City taxpayers was raised by Councillor Brian Swanson at the September 8th Council meeting.
“We have a lot of work to do in this province when it comes to infrastructure especially water infrastructure. What we have in the ground that is servicing us today but also to provide for the growth we expect in our communities,” Premier Moe said after discussing the $4 billion water project to deliver water from Lake Diefenbaker across a large swath of southern Saskatchewan.
Mayor Fraser Tolmie said “there are no servicing issues that we are aware of. And quite honestly we are looking forward to moving forward in this project. We have a Memorandum of Understanding that we are working on.”
Asked a followup question by MJ Independent if he was concerned about any unknown infrastructure surprises as have been seen on North Hill with undocumented water and other lines costing taxpayers addtional monies to service the school Mayor Tolmie said he was not.
“There is a vision of where we want to go OK and this vision is about providing education for the next generation and for generations to come. And that is why we are here. And so in order to get there there may be challenges. There may be obstacles we have to overcome. But that is just reality,” he said, adding “we need to work together. We need a new school and then you have a Council who works together.”
A noticeably agitated Mayor Tolmie continued “What is it going to take? We go through these challenges . Sometimes there are communication barriers sometimes there are you have to get into a room and talk about these things…your life is full of challenges. But you get up and you face those challenges to make your community work.”
Eduaction Minister Gord Wyant said the Westheath location was chosen because it was the best location.
“Given some of the other options this was determined to be the best site for a number of reasons including the fact it is a greenfield site. It gives you the opportunity for some significant growth…it is certainly a collaborative approach. We are going to be having many conversations with the community in terms of what this facility will look like. There will be a lot of collaboration,” the Minister replied.
“A lot of conversation so what we build on this site is going to be the best school we can build not just for the benefit of the children but also the community.”
Asked by The Moose Jaw Express if there was any response to concerns that the site might be too far from core neighbourhoods Premier Moe said concerns were normal.
Community concerns were raised by PSSD Trustee Jan Radwanski who wanted more consultation into the site and a look at the alternatives at their September 2nd meeting.
“There will be concerns with any site selection that is determined. Ultimately at the end of the day what we are looking at these dollars to ensure that we have a facility that is functional. Not just for today…but a facility that is functiuonal for decades into the future. This is a facility that will service the community for not just today, not for the next day but for decades in the future,” Premier Moe replied.
“It is important to acknowledge this isn’t the end of the road for the consultation. We have built a number of schools across the province in partnership with school divisions across the province…we have some designs to start with, but each project differs to some degree with the input the community has,” he said.
A Traffic Impact Assessment is expected back on September 27th after the City and also a traffic engineer working for the Education Department initially noted traffic concerns. The issue was raised by Trustee Radwanski at PSSD’s September 2nd meeting.
The new joint use school is being built to replace four aging schools - Sacred Heart, St. Mary, Empire and Westmount - in both PSSD and HTCSD. The joint-use school will have a capacity of 900 students. Additionally it will also house a fully licensed daycare facility for 51 children.