Image Credit: Adam Donnelly / CFJC Today

By Dylana Kneeshaw

NEW SCHOOL

Pineview Valley revelation ‘a welcomed announcement’ as Kamloops school crowding reaches critical levels

May 20, 2021 | 4:35 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s been more than 20 years since a new school was built in the Kamloops-Thompson School District, but the Education Ministry says that’s going to change — with a brand new elementary school in Pineview Valley.

Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone had asked Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside about funding for new schools in Kamloops, and the Minister told him the province has asked School District 73 for a business case.

“We have tremendous need for school capital across the entire city of Kamloops,” Stone told CFJC Today from Victoria this afternoon, “This is a good step — it’s a welcomed announcement.”

Stone notes the overcrowding has gotten so bad the school district is currently looking at adjusting catchment areas to spread out its population.

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“The minister was somewhat surprised to learn when I was questioning her yesterday that the overcrowding situation in Kamloops is so bad we are soon going to actually rival Surrey for having the highest per capita number of kids in portables.”

The Education Ministry says when a new school is built in Pineview, it will have a capacity of 485 students. This comes as a massive relief to the Kamloops District. Board Chair Rhonda Kershaw says they will be working to send off a business case as soon as possible.

“I mean, we are one of the biggest districts in the province definitely,” she explains, “and we have 60 portables now. We’re looking at needing 57 classrooms over the next five years.”

The Pineview Valley area is at the top of the school district’s list for capital funding needs, however with the rate the city’s population is growing at, Kershaw says they will have to continue pushing for more schools to be built.

“Our next biggest ask would be an elementary school in Batchelor Heights, and then another new elementary school in Aberdeen and then a new elementary school in Juniper.”

There’s no specific timeline for when shovels will hit the ground, but the district expects the new school to be open to the Pineview community in the next few years.

“We would love to see a funding announcement in six-to-12 months,” says Kershaw, “If that were the case, if everything went according to plan we would look at welcoming kids into a Pineview Valley School in four-to-five years.”