It's no secret that the facility at the Estevan Comprehensive School is starting to age. The facility itself looks great, there've been recent rennovations inside that have kept things welcoming and modern, but the guts of the facility and the roof are becoming issues that are only growing larger as time goes on.

Estevan is not the only city that is facing this sort of thing, and that's where the problem of recieving funding from the Ministry of Education becomes such a nuisance. That's why the Southeast Cornerstone School Division (SECSD) and the Holy Family Roman Catholic School Division (HF) have come together to try to get government funding for school upgrades in the southeast.

From left to right: Gwen Keith and Bruno Tuchscherer representing the Holy Family School Division, and Audrey Trombley representing the Southeast Cornerstone School Division.Liam Choo-Foo was brought in as a consultant between the two. His time as the Chinook School Division Director of Education in Swift Current gave him plenty of perspective, but also his position as a neutral party between the two was able to help the divisions stay open minded.

The plan that Choo-Foo and the school divisions have put together is a still very loose, but the structure of it would come in two seperate conglomerate projects. The plans would not be complete until 2025 at the absolute earliest, and are more likely to between 2026-2029.

Project A:

Make the necessary upgrades to the Estevan Comprehensive School such as the roof, HVAC system, electrical systems

Grade 7s and 8s from all over the city would move to the Comp

Catholic school grade 7s and 8s would have their own 'school within a school' at the Comp

The Comp would have partnerships with both the Estevan Police Service with a satellite office in the school for more visibilty around the city, and the City of Estevan a shared field house

Project B:

Is dependant on the approval of Project A

A new 900 student joint use school between both SECSD and HF school divisions where each division would have their own separate teaching facilities, playgrounds, gymnasiums, etc., but would have shared facilties in between that connect the schools such as a band room, home ec. room, open area, etc.

Spruce Ridge stays but adjusts to a kindergarten to grade 6 school thanks to age of the facility

All other elementary schools in Estevan shut down

There's many things to unpack between this information. Starting with the movement of grade 7/8 students to the Comp, the big reason is because new facilities like that hold so many different things for students like the Comp does is a dying breed. With enrollment at only about 53% (the school's capacity is 1421 kids, they currently have 720), adding more students to the upgraded facility is more likely to recieve the funding from the government according to Choo-Foo.

"Because enrollment at the Comp is quite low in relative terms, it's not a real economical way to provide the diversity and the depth of the programming that is up here without enough kids to fully take advantage of it all. So essentially what's happening is that funds from elsewhere in the system are being funnelled here to supplement the operation. In a purely efficiency perspective, the bigger schools are usually the ones that are the most efficient and can supplement some of the smaller schools."

While the board that has put these plans before the Ministry has not had confirmation, the low utilization of the Estevan Comp may have played a factor in their last two bids as they're up against schools that are at as high as 130% capacity.

"I would say that the board has not had an success the last two years with their submissions and the biggest drawback in those submissions from a Ministry perspective when they're prioritizing across the province is the low utilization rate here at the Comp."

Hypothetically, if someday Estevan were to have another boom that drove the population in the area up and therefore drove the enrollment numbers at the Comp up to a high percentage, then Estevan would be in a great spot to receive funding for another build in the future.

Despite the proposed change in number of elementary schools in the city, class sizes and the amount of teachers should not change with the way plans sit now.

"At this point I would say that if there's the same number of kids, they still need the same number of teachers. I'm not as familiar with Holy Family but I do know that Southeast Cornerstone uses a formula to determine the number of teachers that are available for a number of kids."

The partnership with both the City of Estevan and the Estevan Police Service both play a factor in the proposal as well. Other parts of the community showing interest, commitment, and presence in the proposed facilty can make the proposal Estevan puts forward all the more enticing for the Ministry of Education to grant that money our way. The mutual benefit for the EPS would come from having a satellite office on the other end of the city according to Police Chief Paul Ladouceur.

"It would be a small component of the overall building. The biggest thing is having some square footage within the facility. What we're really hoping to achieve is to become a part of the fabric of the school rather than an anomoly when a police officer attends or walks through the school."

For the City's perspective with a possible field house, the benefit of a field house in Estevan is clear, allowing outdoor sports to be played inside year round as just the first benefit, but the plans for how big of a facility and what features will be present will depend on if the City gets the funding and how much.

Mayor Roy Ludwig:

"We're just getting things kicked off with our partnership and discussions, but it is something we'd like to see. Weyburn is already done now with their field house involved with their school board so it's something that we would be very willing to entertain."

The proposal has to be submitted by February 28th, 2020 to be considered for approval, but the review process will take an entire year before we hear back in March of 2021. In the meantime before the proposal is sent, both the SECSD and HF school divisions will be taking comments and suggestions on what their communities would want to see in the facilities.

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