Students in Prince George will be able to enjoy three new portable classrooms this year.
School District No. 57 (SD57) approved the use of surplus funds to replace two portable classrooms per year for a total of 10 within the district, during the regular public meeting on Jan. 29.
“During that discussion there were some questions as to whether we could replace more than the two at a time, so we had facilities take a look into the number of portables we could request this year and we were able to put in a request for three,” explained Secretary-Treasurer Darleen Patterson, at Tuesday’s (Feb. 27) public meeting.
She also explained that the three oldest portables in the district, which would likely be replaced are located at D.P. Todd Secondary School.
Trustee Ron Polillo said after touring a few schools in the district over the last month, he agreed many portables are in need of replacement.
“I think if we can accelerate this in a reasonable way, and this seems to be a reasonable approach, I would certainly recommend and am definitely in favour of using surplus money to purchase an additional portable,” said Polillo.
SD57 Board of Education Chair Tim Bennett agreed.
“We are continuing to invest money year after year to putting bandaids on our portables,” added Bennett.
“I spoke in favour last month around the two and provided a lot of questioning around if there is any way we could accelerate this. Having the additional portable this year is great. It will accelerate it and if it wasn’t for the fact that there is such demand for portables around the province to meet enrollment growth I would be pushing for even more.”
The board then unanimously approved the replacement of one additional portable classroom for a total of three portable classrooms in the school district during the 2018-19 school year.
