Hundreds of students and families will benefit from a new and upgraded Glenmerry Elementary school in Trail.
The school is receiving a $33.6 million investment from the Government of B.C. that will be used to replace the existing facility. The building space will increase from 270 seats, currently, to an expected 435 students. The government of B.C. said the new school will cut down their carbon footprint with designs that follows modern energy efficiency strategies.
Along with the new school, a neighbourhood learning centre will also be included that will provide community programming, as well as before-and-after school child care.
“We’re in the preliminaries a schematic design will be made by an architect and then design development, construction plans, etc,” said Catherine Zaitsoff, Chair of the Kootenay Columbia Board of Education.
The new Glenmerry Elementary school is planned to be done by the start of the 2024 school year in September, with construction expected to start in August 2022.
“It’s a significant support announcement for the community. What it means is tearing down an old outdated-school and replacing it with something brand new, shiny, and pretty spectacular,” said Bill Ford, School District 20 Superintendent. “Whenever that kind of investment is made in the community, it’s always so positive, so we can’t be happier.”
This investment from the government comes in part of the more than $2.2 billion given to school capital projects over the past three years. The funds have been used to replace aging schools and to add more space in growing communities. During this time, the B.C. government has created 13,445 new student seats at 40 new or expanded schools and safe spaces for more than 30,000 students at 54 schools.