Good News Items
- Board Chair Karen Packard celebrated the announcement of pre-planning funding for a new school on Buffalo Lake Metis Settlement. Three of the four projects identified in the division's Capital Plan have received funding for some stage of project development.
- Vice-Chair Cheryl Edwards thanked Ardmore School Council for welcoming her to their most recent meeting. She commended them on the many great ways they are supporting the school and students.
- Trustee Garry Kissel thanked the Village of Glendon for providing Glendon School with $25,000 to go towards sports extracurricular activities for students. The donation is the result of the success of the Village's Fire and Iron Fitness facility.
- Trustee Blair Norton highlighted his participation as a judge at Aurora Middle School's Science Olympics competition. He was joined by other former educators and community representatives to judge the competition, which saw students compete in a series of science-themed activities.
Capital Plan
Secretary-Treasurer Paula Elock reviewed the three-year and 10-year capital plan with the Board.
All of the priorities remain the same as last year. The Board's top priority is a replacement school for Vera M. Welsh Elementary School in Lac La Biche. The second priority is a Cold Lake South solution that would address the infrastructure needs of Art Smith Aviation Academy, North Star Elementary School and Cold Lake Junior High. A school for Buffalo Lake Metis Settlement is the third priority. A modernization of Ecole Plamondon School remains as the Board's fourth priority on the plan.
Elock noted that while the Vera M. Welsh and Cold Lake Solution projects remain on the Board's Capital Plan, they will not be included in the division's submission to Alberta Education, as they are already confirmed to be included in the school accelerator program. The Vera M. Welsh project was approved for design funding in March 2023 and the Board is awaiting an announcement that it is ready to proceed to construction. The Cold Lake South Solution project was just approved for planning funding and Elock said she is waiting for formal notification of when that process will begin. Buffalo Lake was approved for pre-planning projects, but would need further approval before it would be part of the school accelerator program. While Ecole Plamondon School received some upgrades following the flooding the school experienced, it remains on the division's plans due to work that still needs to be done on mechanical, electrical and other systems in the school.
The Board's 10-year Capital Plan also includes audit upgrades for H.E. Bourgoin School in Bonnyville, Kikino School, and Wandering River School.
Elock explained that as the Vera M. Welsh and Cold Lake Solution projects move forward in the school accelerator program, the next step will be to determine if the projects that are currently in the 10-year plan move up into the three-year plan and if there are other needs across the division that need to be added to the plan.
The approved Capital Plan is available on the NLPS website: 2026-2029 Capital Plan.