REGINA – A new joint-use school in northwest Regina will have a new location after a vote by city council Monday night.
The new school was supposed to be in the Skywood development originally, but that site will not be ready in time for construction, so the school will now be built in Rosewood Park in Coopertown.
Both the Regina Public and Catholic School divisions are in favour of the new site.
“We support the announcement of a new location for our new joint school in Rosewood Park,” said Regina Public Schools board chair Katherine Gagne.
Catholic board chair Rob Bresciani doesn’t expect the location change to have a major impact on the boundaries that define who attents which school.
“I really don’t expect any outcries from the community,” Bresciani said. “I think there would have been an outcry if we didn’t have a school.”
Ward 8 councillor Mike O’Donnell is still concerned with the Saskatchewan government’s ultimatum to service the undeveloped neighbourhoods ahead of schedule, which essentially told municipalities, ‘No land, no schools.’
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“It seems to rest with us whether this school goes ahead or not,” O’Donnell said. “By legislation, that’s not our role.”
The province is providing a grant for building roads and sewers to each of the joint-use school sites, but the money is typically used as compensation for lost property that could have also been used for parks or recreational facilities.
“Now when we have to take money out and provide a school site, it means we have less money for others things,” O’Donnell said.
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Education Minister Don Morgan doesn’t see things that way, saying there’s only one taxpayer footing the final bill.
Though in deciding to go ahead with the joint-use school bundle, Morgan admits the four cities and towns getting them were forced to make quick decisions about how to acquire the land.
“It’s a contribution made by the developers at the time of subdivision. We want to see to it that’s continued,” Morgan said. “But we don’t want to do anything that causes problems or makes things more difficult for our municipal partners.”
The new joint-use school is part of the province’s commitment to deliver 18 new elementary schools on nine different sites by September 2017.
The schools in Regina will be built in Harbour Landing, Greens on Gardiner and now Rosewood Park in Coopertown.
Each joint-use school will consist of a public and Catholic school and will accommodate students from pre-kindergarten to grade 8. Each school will also contain a 90-space child care centre.
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