The Northern Lights Public Schools Board of Trustees has approved updates to the annual Capital Plan it submits to Alberta Education for consideration.
The 2021-2024 Capital Plan is a list of projects that NLPS would like Alberta Education to fund. The Provincial Government decides which projects are approved for funding and when they will go ahead.
A new school to replace Vera M. Welsh Elementary School in Lac La Biche remains the division's top capital priority. This project has been on the division's capital plan for 20 years. In the fall of 2020, NLPS, along with Lakeland Catholic and East Central Francophone, received planning funds to assist in determining a Lac La Biche solution to address the capital needs of all three boards. FWBA Architects was contracted to assess current facility conditions and suggest options. This process is well underway and is anticipated to be finalized by May 2021.
The Board’s second priority is a modernization of Ecole Plamondon School. This project has also been on the division's capital plan for 20 years. Over the years, some work has been done to address emergent needs and safety issues, but a modernization is still required to address health and safety, facility condition and programming shortfalls.
The third priority on the capital plan is a new school for Buffalo Lake Metis Settlement. Buffalo Lake is currently the only Metis settlement in Alberta that does not have a school located on the settlement. Students are currently bused out of the community to go to school, with many attending the division's school in Caslan.
A modernization of North Star Elementary School remains the division's fourth priority. Details of this project have been updated to reflect configuration changes being made in the Cold Lake area over the next three years, including changing North Star from a K to 3 to a K to 6 school by 2023-2024.