PRINCE ALBERT — The Prince Albert Catholic School Division has resubmitted plans to upgrade Ecole St. Mary High School and Ecole Holy Cross after their request was denied in the most recent budget.
Both projects will be submitted to the province’s Minor Capital Renewal Program for 2026-27 applications. The Catholic School Division board approved the resubmission at their regular meeting on March 24.
Education Director Lorel Trumier said their schools are aging, as are other schools in Prince Albert and the province.
“We do maintain our buildings well,” Trumier said. “I feel that they—I'll use the term ‘show well.’ We maintain them so that our children feel comfortable and warm and (it’s) a caring environment.”
Trumier said items such as HVAC units and heating systems in their buildings are dated, and replacing them eats away at the PMR budget. For example, Trumier said, one HVAC unit can cost them up to a half a million dollars.
“That's a good portion of our PMR allocation, and with aging schools, those numbers start to crawl up pretty quickly,” she said.
“Systems that have become obsolete are much more expensive to retrofit,” she added.
Trumier said the division will continue to advocate for their applications.
“The difficulty here in this province is Saskatoon and Regina have grown at a higher rate, and so the new schools have been allocated to those locations over the last five years, especially, which leaves everyone else in the province without the support they need for new facilities,” she said.
Trumier said it is great to see Saskatchewan’s population increase, but it shows prosperity still presents challenges.
"Our student enrollment has grown up, and we need to make sure that we have facilities that are putting our students in the best position to learn,” she said.
Administration recently received a letter from the Ministry of Education notifying them that the applications for the 2026-2027 Minor Capital Renewal Program were open until Feb.14.
The Minor Capital Renewal Program is for projects between $1 million and $10 million and can be completed in one to two years. Each school division in the province can submit up to two projects.
The last project approved in the division was St. John Community School. The division was notified in early June, 2023 that the Ministry of Education has approved proceeding with the renovations. This was the second year for the program. The budget was approved for $2,100,000.
The project included renovations to improve the bathrooms, kitchen and library. Other interior upgrades include the replacement of boilers, roof top units, windows, lighting, doors, flooring, wheelchair lift, furniture, equipment, relocatable classroom roofing and surveillance were also included in the project.
Prince Albert teacher chosen for Curriculum Writing Group
The Prince Albert Catholic School Division recently received a request to utilize teacher Krysta Lambert from St. Catherine School for a Curriculum Writing Group.
Lambert will be part of a curriculum writing group for ELA (English Language Arts) 1,2 and 3 in Regina on March 31.
Director of Education Lorel Trumier said Lambert demonstrated an interest in the group when the call for teachers went out, and the division was happy to submit her name.
"We are fortunate that she is so skilled and is so knowledgeable,” Trumier said.
“This is really her niche, she's a passionate educator, she cares about the students, so all of those qualities combined make a great candidate for the curriculum writing,” she added.
The board approved Lambert’s attendance. The division will be reimbursed by the Ministry of Education for substitute costs and Lambert will be reimbursed for expenses in Regina.
