The Willow River-Giscome area may be gaining traction in a proposed schooling initiative, but the school board heard about some unknown delays Tuesday night.
Education Minister George Abbott recently sent school board trustees a letter advising the district on the next steps for establishing neighbourhood learning centres in Giscome, Hixon and Nukko Lake. The board reviewed the letter Tuesday suggesting they submit a joint-use pilot project proposal to Victoria.
But they're still waiting for a study to be completed on the feasibility of the neighbourhood learning centres.
A $10,000 grant for the work, overseen by the Fraser-Fort George Regional District (FFGRD), was announced in late September but a new consultant had to be hired recently because the previous consultant's workload was too large, trustees learned.
Willow River parent Denise MacDonald said the study was supposed to be ready by November and school board chair Lyn Hall said it's taken too long.
"Timing is so important around this... we're going into a new school year in six or seven months so in my estimation we should've had that report on our table no later than probably this month," Hall said.
The goal is to use modular construction to build a 525-square-metre school for about $1.5 million, less than half the the $3.2 million it would cost to build a traditional "bricks and mortar" version.
The neighbourhood learning centre model implied joint use and joint cost sharing, possibly between the school district and the FFGRD.
The aging school in Giscome is on its last legs and parents, trustees and school district officials have been searching for ways to convince Victoria to finance construction of a new one in neighbouring Willow River.
Trustees voted to refer Abbott's letter to the education services committee's next meeting.
