MALLAIG - During a televised announcement by Premier Danielle Smith addressing the province's plan for education on Tuesday night, a list of new school builds was also announced - and it included École Mallaig School.
The design phase for a new K-12 school in Mallaig has been underway for quite some time already. In March of last year, St. Paul Education had been approved for new school design funding. The school is located about 30 km northwest of St. Paul.
“There is no time to lose in getting our school construction accelerator program off the ground right now. To accelerate school construction immediately our cabinet has just approved full construction funding for new school projects, but we need all hands on deck to begin construction on many more school before the end of this school year," said Smith, during the Sept. 17 announcement.
Other communities included in the list announced on Tuesday night for new projects were Calgary, Edmonton, Barrhead, Breton, Redcliff, Taber and Wainwright.
“Often times the only thing holding back construction of a new school is a school board or a municipality not having the site prepared or permitted for construction," added Smith. "That is why I am asking all school boards to work with their respective municipalities and the Ministry of Education on an expedited basis to get priority school sites permitted, serviced, and otherwise prepared for immediate construction work.”
The new school in Mallaig is planned to be built on the same parcel of land where the current Mallaig School sits. In May of 2021, St. Paul Education agreed to that if a new school is built in Mallaig, it would be built for 320 students, rather than the original plan of 350 students.
More to come...