More than 100 people filled the school’s gymnasium to hear members of the Prairie South School Division and Holy Trinity Catholic School Division go over a variety of questions and concerns about the project, marking the first step in what promises to be a series of public consultations leading up to planning and construction.
Attendees were encouraged to write and leave questions on post-it notes at the event, which were gathered and will be answered on a special website for the schools’ construction.
“I’m glad we captured them because there were one or two where it was ‘oh, I hadn’t really thought of that before’,” said PSSD director of education Tony Baldwin. “The safety conversation is one of them because before the very first announcement was made when we were talking to the school community council at Westmount about the potential of an announcement.
“There was a person there who was quite worried about city infrastructure, sidewalks and crosswalks, and I thought that was a really insightful worry to have. Then the safety questions tonight were a build on that. I guess it’s a sign of the world we live that that’s top of the mind for people, but I think (Holy Trinity’s) Sean (Chase) put it nicely when he said these new schools are built for safety for 2019 and that’s more than the four schools we have right now.”
Questions at the event covered the gamut of potential concerns, ranging from the potential location to class sizes and balance, school start times, potential location and updates on the project as a whole.
Given how preliminary the process is – the announcement was made on Mar. 20, the day the provincial budget was released – many of those questions will be answered in the future. One that was touched on extensively, though, was location, with Baldwin explaining how that plan will work.
“The Ministry (of Education) will have the most to do with that,” he said. “All four of the current schools are on crown land of some description and we know we’re going to need a big footprint. So either the land that is currently yard at Westmount or the land that is currently the yard at Sacred Heart will be the most likely to sites.
“But there’s a lot that has to happen, the ministry will contact the city, we’ll sit down with the city and try and hash out how to meet everybody’s needs. If it’s one of those two sites, that would be great, and if it’s another site that would be great, too.”
Turnout for the event was especially positive in Baldwin’s eyes, with the interest showing just how much the project means to South Hill residents and the Moose Jaw education community in general.
“On social media there were 116 people who said they were going to come, and while there wasn’t quite that number here tonight, it was a good crowd and I think (Holy Trinity board chair) Derek (Hassan) was right when he said ‘people are engaged’. We’re never going to have a chance to do this again, at least in my lifetime, on South Hill in Moose Jaw, so it’s such an exciting time and opportunity for the staff and the boards and I’m really excited for the city of Moose Jaw and the community on South Hill for what this is going to bring.”
