We’re learning more about the capital project timelines following two major consolidation decisions by trustees at the Near North District School Board.

Board chair David Thompson says the trustees voted to consolidate three elementary schools-E.T.Carmichael, E.W. Norman and W.J.Fricker into one brand new facilty at the Fricker site.

He says the board has submitted a funding proposal to the ministry and if their application is successful a new facility would be open by the fall of 2020.

He says they have a good track record regarding similar projects in the past.

“We have a very good track record of the last two schools we’ve built. We built on time and under budget so we’ve proved to the ministry that we can do that efficiently.”

Meantime, the board director has been meeting with officials at West Ferris, Chippewa and Widdifield to go over the strategy following the decision to consolidate the 3 high schools into 2 at the West Ferris and Chippewa sites.

Thompson says he’s hearing good things.

“Director Young has met a couple of times with the working group. It’s a pretty big group. It’s very inclusive of staff from all 3 high schools. We’re actually pretty excited about the opportunities and possibilities coming out of this. It’s thinking outside the box for education.”

Filed under: consolidation, David Thompson, Near North District School Board