The proposed joint-use school on South Hill will be constructed in the Westheath neighbourhood, but one public school board trustee wants more consultation on the site selection.
Jan Radwanski, a Moose Jaw trustee with the Prairie South School Division (PSSD), introduced a motion during the board’s recent meeting to have the division provide public presentations — virtually, if needed — and allow residents to submit formal input about the site selection process, along with the possible expenditure of $2.5 million for the purchase of municipal property, before the division completes any financial transaction.
The new joint-use school in Westheath will be constructed west of the 1700-block of Glendale Street and Spadina Drive and will likely open in September 2023.
The board voted 9-1 against the motion, with Radwanski the only one in favour.
This is not the first time Radwanski has attempted to stall this process. Last October, he attempted to have the PSSD board ask the Ministry of Education to complete a feasibility study as part of the site selection process and potentially single-use schools on existing sites.
Project background
The board directed division administration to pursue the Westheath property about a year ago, while Holy Trinity Catholic School Division and the Ministry of Education also made similar decisions, explained education director Tony Baldwin. The opportunity to provide input on the site selection has passed —consultants are currently designing the building — while it would be inappropriate to change now since there are two other partners.
The financial issue is not in PSSD’s control since the transaction is between the developer and municipality, he added.
Board discussion
“This has been in the works for a number of years behind closed doors,” said Radwanski. “The opportunity for the public to participate … was severely limited.”
PSSD suggested to Holy Trinity in 2015 that a new school was required on South Hill, while the ministry suggested in 2017 that a joint-use building would be appropriate and space was available on the four existing schools, Radwanski said. Both divisions held public consultations on a joint-use school last March and June, although most people at the June meeting were division staff and ministry officials.
Board trustees received a report from consulting firm KPMG in late September that said Westheath was the best site. This didn’t allow enough time for stakeholder feedback, especially from affected community schools, he said. Nor, he alleged, did the board even discuss the Westheath site during an open board meeting.
This process goes against the division’s foundational statements of public participation and the sharing of information, Radwanski said. The division should conduct public consultations rather than eradicate four schools from South Hill and force students to take the bus or have their parents drive them to “a remote warehouse-style school.”
“A thousand kids, it’s … not (going to be) a pretty sight,” he added, while “the traffic will be bad” and similar to École Palliser Heights.
As a representative for schools on South Hill, it’s been great to hear parents on school community councils (SCCs) talk about having a new, first-class building in that area, said trustee Lew Young. It has been exciting to hear all of the positive comments that parents have made.
The purpose of this motion is questionable and is clearly about delaying the process instead of having actual consultation, said trustee Shawn Davidson. He disagreed with Radwanski’s assertion that the school would “warehouse” students since that was “a vastly inappropriate use of the English language.”
Davidson pointed out the ministry has already given approval to this project and provided significant funding.
“When you hear comments about exploring the possibility of not consolidating the four schools into one, the intent of the motion, I believe, is disingenuous,” he added.
The next PSSD board meeting is in September.
