Glenmore area top new school priority for Central Okanagan

Central Okanagan Public Schools staff have updated the school district’s five-year capital plan to set priorities for the 2023-24 school year.

The plan was submitted to the planning and facilities committee last Wednesday and will come before the board of education for final approval.

Heading up the major capital funding wishlist is the construction of a new middle/secondary school for Glenmore, at a cost of $85 million, and a new elementary school for the Wilden subdivision, at $40 million.

For school additions, the two top priorities are an addition to meet enrolment growth at $35 million and to replace portables and address future growth at Hudson Road Elementary, at a cost of $28 million.

The lone site acquisition priority for 2023-24 is a 3.2-hectare site for a future school in the UBC Okanagan university district.

On the school replacement side, the replacement of Rutland Middle and Glenmore Elementary schools, at a combined cost of $90 million, are the top two priorities.

The capital plan submissions are required annually by the Ministry of Education, which has the final say on what funding priorities submitted by each school district will be presented to the treasury board for final approval.

Last year, the top new school priority was funding for another secondary school on the Westside, which was ultimately given final approval, with the plan to repurpose École George Pringle Elementary back into a secondary school, with hopes the new school will open in the next four to five years.

Pringle’s time as an elementary school will end with the 2021-22 school year, as students have been shuffled to other schools for the fall to accommodate the site reconstruction.

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