Golden Hills School Division has gone to the province in hopes of building a stand-alone central school in the East Wheatland area.
The Board of Trustees moved at its meeting last Tuesday to approve a K-12 consolidated school to serve the students of the area. The site as proposed is a six-kilometre stretch near the intersection of Highway 561 ad 840.
“I think it is significant for sure,” said Golden Hills Board chair David Price. “It now moves us toward the next step. Obviously the biggest decision is in the province’s hands now because they have to decide whether or not it reaches the top, or at least qualifies for funding on their list. But for board’s priorities, we put it at the top of the list for new expenditures in the division.
It was a recorded vote and Price says five trustees voted for the consolidation and Bob McKay, trustee for Ward 2 voted against the motion.
Price said the decision came about relying on the difficult task charged to members of the community.
“The biggest part of it was done by the working groups, made up of the four members of each community, and of course Superintendent Bevan Daverne’s team who worked super hard to respond to any questions or concerns coming forward. Obviously we couldn’t address everyone’s concerns completely, but we cold provide the information for people to make their own judgement. It appears there was a majority of people in favour of taking this step and that is also the direction the board chose to go.”
With this motion, it became a part of the Golden Hills School Division capital plan. It was to be submitted to the province by April 2.
