The decision to build the joint-use school in the Westheath neighbourhood “totally blindsided” city administration since that specific location was never mentioned during meetings between municipal and education officials, documents show.
Robert Bachmann, board chair for Prairie South School Division (PSSD), informed Coun. Dawn Luhning in an email on Sept. 23, 2019, that the board of education had held a special meeting that day to approve the proposed location at Westheath. This decision was the culmination of months of planning for a new school on South Hill, a topic that the board had discussed with city council that April.
“Together with staff at Holy Trinity (Roman Catholic School Division), the Ministry of Education and SaskBuilds, our Director (of education Tony Baldwin) has recommended Westheath as the location of preference for the new school. Today the Prairie South Board of Education confirmed this recommendation and directed Mr. Baldwin to carry on with the process of land acquisition for the new school,” Bachmann wrote.
Prairie South trustees saw the new school as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for both school divisions and Moose Jaw, he continued. The division intended to lobby for space in the new building to include the Family Resource Centre, which was announced for Moose Jaw in 2018 and is temporarily housed in the John Chisholm Alternate School.
“Our Board is always willing to meet with City Council to advance this conversation,” Bachmann added.
The Moose Jaw Express submitted an access to information (AOI) request to city hall on July 29, 2020, asking for all communications between the City of Moose Jaw and both school divisions and the Ministry of Education about the proposed joint-use school on South Hill.
After four months, the municipality sent the documents on Dec. 2. This was 10 days after city council gave both school divisions approval to proceed with the next steps of the project, even though a former PSSD trustee attempted to convince council to reject a report about the project.
A tough position
“Totally blindsided going into the meeting today (Sept. 25) on the site selection with the Ministry of Education and Directors of the Boards of Education,” Michelle Sanson, director of planning and development, wrote to communications director Craig Hemingway, city manager Jim Puffalt and city clerk/solicitor Myron Gulka-Tiechko.
“I assumed Westheath was the site that we had suggested as the land on Coteau (Street West), but no, it’s land where our approved Concept Plan is for Phases 5 and 6 for residential housing,” she continued. “I have not had one communication regarding this site with anyone from the Ministry of Education or the Boards of Education … . I wasn’t even aware this was a site they were considering for the school.”
There are no services or roads to the proposed site, while a new concept plan would have to be created for the area even though the municipality had spent $300,000 and two years developing such a document, she said. Furthermore, city administration had no intent to service this area in 2020 and hadn’t planned anything for phase 6 — the school’s location — for at least five to six years.
Sanson suggested that ministry officials submit a formal offer to purchase so city hall could present it to city council, the email said. Those officials told Sanson that they wanted the municipality to start working on the site immediately, but she said that couldn’t happen until council approved the project.
“We definitely didn’t budget for this,” she added. “This definitely puts the City in a tough position considering they (education officials) have gone public that this is the site they have selected without even talking to us. They are definitely not wanting to pay for the land either.
“They said they need it to happen very quickly.”
The Express will write other stories about the emails received as part of AOI, including reactions from city administration and further communications between the parties.
