Plans unveiled for desperately needed Sage Creek school

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This article was published 13/06/2023 (856 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s been a “long time coming” for a new kindergarten to Grade 8 French immersion school in Sage Creek.

The latest plans for the 900-student, 103,570-square-foot facility at 355 Des Hivernants Blvd. have been posted on the city’s website; the Riel community committee is set to vote on them June 19.

Preliminary estimates predict the province will pay about $47 million for the school, plus $6 million for the land, according to the Louis Riel School Division.

Manitoba’s Municipal Relations Minister, who is MLA for Lagimodière, said that investment is “very much needed.”

“It’s been a long time coming. Speaking as an MLA here, specifically, I’ve been advocating with my colleagues to make sure it can come to fruition. Some (students) had been shipped out of the area just to (go) to school,” said Andrew Smith.

Smith said the new school should ease pressure off multiple overcrowded schools in the area, since it will have students from both Sage Creek and Bonavista.

The school will be modelled on the École Sage Creek School, the only elementary school in the large neighbourhood, said Christian Michalik, superintendent of the Louis Riel division.

“It’s a neighbourhood model of bringing kids together, students and staff together in communities… In essence, there are no hallways in this school, so that the shared spaces between classrooms are large enough to be learning spaces, community spaces… a unique, modern design to building schools,” said Michalik. “It really is about leveraging all spaces to be learning spaces, spaces for community and making those spaces accessible and safe.”

Key features will include practical arts spaces and areas for outdoor learning.

The superintendent said there is high demand for French immersion education, with about half of all parents choosing the option for their children in Louis Riel each year for the past decade. The school population quickly exceeded capacity at the Sage Creek dual-track (French and English) elementary school, he said.

“There’s only one school serving Sage Creek right now and… it was built to serve a K-to-8 population but it is a K-to-6 population in French immersion and a K-to-4 population in English and, even with those grade configurations, it’s over-capacity and growing,” said Michalik.

To cope with demand, the division is trying to expedite construction of the new French immersion school to ensure it can open by 2025.

The two-storey building is expected to include an attached daycare with 74 spaces. The property will also include 99 parking stalls and 198 bicycle stalls, pedestrian pathways and playground space.

St. Vital Coun. Brian Mayes, whose ward includes the area, said he’s hopeful “shovels will be in the ground” this summer.

“If there’s anything I can do to make sure it’s underway, I want to keep this thing moving,” said Mayes. “There will be a city park next to it, so we’ll have good soccer facilities. It’s just a good amenity for Sage Creek and Bonavista.”

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga