Good news for the Kamloops Thompson School District’s number one ask on its list of most desperately needed capital investments.
Education minister Rob Fleming says it sounds like the district is ahead of schedule in preparing to submit a business case for a significant expansion of the overcrowded Valleyview Secondary.
“We invited them to proceed to what we call business case development to get the numbers on what the cost of that project would be. We gave the school district until the end of 2018 to do that. I am hearing, and I am very pleased to hear this, that the school district is expected to submit that report and go out to tender after that much sooner. Really looking forward to seeing what the project definitions of that report are and then taking it to Treasury Board for support.”
Asked about a firm timeline Fleming says he thinks the ministry can move “quite quickly” once the district submits its final plan.
For its part the Kamloops Thompson School District is confirming it is well ahead of schedule in delivering to the province a business case for the expansion of Valleyview Secondary.
Superintendent Alison Sidow says the district’s plan all along was to submit the business case before the year’s end deadline but they may even beat their own expectations.
“We were given until the end of 2018 to put together a project development report. Mr. Art McDonald our Director of Facilities and Transportation has been working diligently on that. Our goal has always been to have that done by October. I understand we may even be ahead of schedule. It looks like we may come in at least three to four months ahead of schedule.”
Sidow says once the business case is submitted the hope is an official public announcement from the province with more details will come shortly afterwards.
Valleyview operates at 137% of capacity and already has eight portables with at least one more added for this school year.