PRINCE ALBERT — The Prince Albert Catholic School Division will continue to apply for portable classrooms for Ecole St. Mary High School after their most recent application was rejected.
The division received notice from the Ministry on Dec. 20, 2024, that their request was denied. The division applied for the spaces because Ecole St. Mary is a dual-track high school.
Director of Education Lorel Trumier took a more optimistic tone after the division was denied again.
"I think I'm going to shift my thinking. Maybe we're getting denied because hopefully, we can get a new school,” Trumier said
"St. Mary is certainly, like many of the schools in the province, reaching an age where we're going to have to look at something,” she added. “Maybe us not getting our portables means that there's hope for a renewal or a new school? Maybe let’s twist that and put it in a good frame. Maybe that's what they're waiting for.”
The division applied for a renewal project for Ecole St. Mary under the Minor Capital Renewal Funding Program for 2025-26 in February 2024.
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. If approved, the project is planned to start in 2025-2026 and end in 2026-2027.
This is the fourth consecutive year the board has submitted a request for relocatable classrooms. Without the new classrooms, reads a board memo, the school may struggle to address future student population levels. They have applied before but those last four were consecutive.
Dual-track schools require spaces for both English and French Immersion students at each level.
"I think that's our challenge at a dual track school,” Trumier said. “We have got great people, great students, everything is working well in that school from that perspective. It's just that when you have a dual-track school, you need more room. “
She added that the lack of relocatable classrooms does put pressure on the school.
“You see, you need more classrooms because you're not only offering English language arts, you're also teaching the children in French Immersion English language arts and French immersion, French Language Arts so it's tricky for sure and we're getting good at some strategies, but we're feeling the pressures because of increased growth,” she said.
