Western School Division continues to make its case for two major capital project priorities in Morden.
The need for an eight classroom addition at the new École Discovery Trails school as well as a new second high school were the primary focus at a recent meeting with a deputy minister of education for the province.
Superintendent Stephen Jaddock was joined by board chairperson Darcy Wolfe “to just make sure that the needs of Western School Division, in terms of our space issues, was heard at the highest level and making sure that we are moving forward with what we would like to do in terms of addressing those space issues,” Jaddock shared.
The two projects are both top priorities, but there is perhaps some greater urgency for the addition at École Discovers Trails school.
“It has already been in the planning. The school was built with that expansion in mind,” noted Jaddock.
“Now, with next year having all the K-8 French Immersion students and the K-8 English students there in the catchment area, it’s going to be at its load capacity and more, so we just want to make sure that those issues are known to the minister of education.”
They also stressed the need for a new high school in addition to Morden Collegiate.
“We are at capacity in terms of the high school numbers of students as well,” said Jaddock. “So both of those projects were talked about, and we want to make sure that we’re leaving no stone unturned in terms of just making known what we believe needs to have to happen in the immediate future.”
He remained hopeful they are being heard, with another meeting already set to talk about projected enrolment and space issues with other government representatives.
“We’re bursting at the seams, and we need to do right by our families and our students to make sure that we house them appropriately and they have the space they need to do their learning,” said Jaddock.
Meanwhile, there was also a meeting with Mayor Nancy Penner and members of Morden city council. Those meetings usually happen on a regular basis, but Jaddock noted they haven’t taken place for awhile.
“This was good just to get back on that track again and to have those conversations with our city government, our mayor and councillors, to talk about our plans and builds and what things actually look like for our space constraints for the school division,” he said.
“It’s great to be on the same page,” Jaddock added. “We both, at the school division level and at the city level … want to make sure that we’re singing from the same song book, so to speak.”
He also sees the city as potentially being in a position to help lobby the province.
“It’s important for the city of Morden to have their education needs looked after, and we work together to see that happen,” said Jaddock.
“These types of meetings are very important, and we have to make sure that we continually revisit them and make sure that individuals know at the top levels what our needs are here.”
