Kevin Berger – Leader Staff
A comprehensive value scoping study that contains options for the modernization or even the replacement of Barrhead Composite High School (BCHS) has been completed and will be going out to local municipalities to review for information.
Pembina Hills trustees passed a motion during their Oct. 23 meeting at the Pibroch Colony School to receive the BCHS Value Scoping Study Report for information and to distribute a copy to the Town of Barrhead, the County of Barrhead and Woodlands County.
The full modernization of BCHS, which is roughly estimated to cost as much as $33.92 million, is the top priority in Pembina Hills 2020-2023 Capital Plan.
School divisions annually submit their three-year capital plan to the provincial government, who uses the information to decide on which capital projects to proceed with.
Last November, Alberta Education and Alberta Infrastructure initiated a “value scoping” process meant to assess what would be the best value solution for the future of BCHS, whether that be a full modernization, a replacement, a partial replacement or some other option.
A value scoping session was hosted here in Barrhead, and the province invited both the school division and the three municipalities to take part.
The idea was for the three municipalities to possibly become partners in a future capital project. Director of facilities Tracy Tyreman said a partnership could take one of two forms, the first being the municipality partnering with the school division to preserve a portion of the old school like the drama theatre.
The second type of partnership would be for a municipality to contribute some funding towards, say, building a bigger gymnasium or better CTF (Career Technology Foundations) labs.
Tyreman said it was his preference for Pembina Hills to consult with the municipalities before updating their capital plan in the new year.
He indicated that, in general, it’s better to provide as much information as possible to Alberta Education when they’re selecting capital projects to fund. For instance, information on utility costs if a replacement school was built would be of vital assistance.
“It’s also critical that I put (the BCHS value scoping study) in our capital plan to the province. The more information we give them, the better,” he said.
Of course, discussions around a school division-municipal partnership could be moot. Supt. Dave Garbutt said that with the provincial budget coming out on Oct. 24, local municipalities were expecting to see their funding take a hit.
“For right now, our recommendation is simply that you pass a motion to receive the Value Scoping Report as information,” he said, adding that it could then be passed on to the partnering muncipalities for them to review.
Board chair Jennifer Tuininga also stressed that the report was simply for information purposes and no decision had been made yet about the future of BCHS.
She also acknowledged that school divisions and municipalities were also facing the prospect of cuts in the provincial budget, which came out the following day.
“If (the municipalities) get cut as hard as what’s being said, and we get cut as well, we’re not really quite sure where to go,” said Tuininga.
