Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier in the day I spoke about the need to replace the school in Trout Lake. I know that the Department of Education is currently assessing the facility and I also spoke about the Premier and Minister of Transportation going to Trout Lake, but the Minister himself has been to Trout Lake and indeed seen the school for himself. I know that they’re doing an assessment as we speak.
So I would like to ask the Minister if there’s a current report completed for the assessment of the school in Trout Lake. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Since we visited the community with Member Menicoche, also the district education council, we’ve toured the school facility and we know the condition of it. So we’ve been talking about how we can proceed with the planning study. The planning study is underway, 2014-15 year, and it will provide us with a needs analysis, operational plan and also recommend the scope of work.
At the same time, an education plan began in May 2014 and the report is now complete as of June 2014. That provides us more data on the particular analysis and operation plan as well. Mahsi.
Thank you very much. The Minister spoke about the completion of the planning study. Just for clarification, does he mean that will be completed by the end of March of this year? Thank you.
Mahsi. That is part of the plan. If we can get it done sooner than that, that will be our priority as well as the department, working with Member Menicoche, how we can expedite this process as well. Mahsi.
Thank you very much. I certainly look forward to the results of that study and sharing it with the community. I know that the community of Trout Lake and I have always advocated for a replacement stand-alone school.
I’d like to ask the Minister what his department can do to move forward with a new replacement school. Thank you.
That is in the works. I’ve touched on the planning study and also the educational plan. That will give us the data analysis that we need to move forward as part of the capital planning process. There is a capital planning process that every department is entitled to go through that, so we’re doing what we can to push the Trout Lake school as part of the capital planning process. This will give us more ammunition to move that forward as part of the process. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much. There were some repairs needed for that building that the school is currently in.
Are there any plans to ship any repair material up the winter road currently? Thank you.
Mahsi. Within the capital plan, ‘15-16, obviously there’s $423,000 that’s earmarked as part of the proposal for Charles Tetcho School as part of the renovation to existing building space to provide adequate instructional space. I’ve been working with the Member on this. So we’re moving forward on that.
Yes, we’re fully aware that the community wants a stand-alone school. So that is the overall long-term plan and I need to work with the community as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
