Confirmation of provincial funding for a new West Kelowna high school could be only days away.
Officials with Central Okanagan Public Schools say they believe the province will announce its financial support for the proposed $110 million school by the district-set deadline of Feb. 28.
“We’re really quite confident that this is going to go ahead unless something absolutely drastic and unexpected happens,” board chair Moyra Baxter said Tuesday in an interview.
Baxter said her optimism is based on the nature and substance of recent communication between district officials and their counterparts in the provincial Ministry of Education.
She believes the government hasn’t announced funding yet, in part, because of deliberations that led up to Tuesday’s unveiling of the province’s budget for the coming year.
Student enrollment at Mount Boucherie Secondary School, West Kelowna’s only high school, is at 1,700, and the site cannot be expanded further, district officials have said.
The district’s plan is to demolish George Pringle Elementary in the West Bank after the end of this school year and begin construction of a new high school on the property. It is planned to open in September 2025.
Trustees set an end-of-February deadline to receive confirmation of the necessary provincial funding because parents of children currently at George Pringle deserve to know where their children will attend school this fall, Baxter said.
If the funding is not confirmed by next Monday, the board’s plan is to keep George Pringle as an elementary school for at least another year.
Should the plan for a second West Kelowna high school receive provincial approval, the district will likely keep the name George Pringle, rather than consider a new name, Baxter said. The topic arose during a Tuesday morning meeting between district officials and Peachland parents.
“This is a repurposing of a school site, therefore we expect it would continue to be called George Pringle,” Baxter said.
Pringle was a Peachland and Westbank United Church minister who volunteered for military service during the Second World War. He was killed Jan. 24, 1943 when his plane crashed in England. “He was very important to both communities,” Baxter said.
