Construction of four new portable classrooms at Carihi Secondary school is being delayed, forcing some classes to continue in temporary spaces this fall.
According to School District 72 (SD72), the portables were expected to be completed in time for school start up, but are now expected to be ready later this fall.
The school will be using spaces within the main building to house most displaced classes, for the duration of the delay.
“Everybody is doing their best to try and minimize disruption to students and educational programming” says associate superintendent with SD72 Phillip Cizmic, adding “students are always at the front of everything we do.”
The district states two classes will be relocated to Robron Centre for the first couple of weeks and music classes will continue at École Phoenix Middle School.
Assembly of these portables coincides work to restore Carihi Secondary, following a fire that occurred November 21, 2024.
“The work was twofold,” says Cizmic. “First was work on the actual Carihi building and making sure we could start accessing the gym in order to do repairs… then getting the site ready to bring in some portables and to ensure we could have additional classroom space until the gym and the wing that was demolished is complete.”
On top of these new portables, a camp kitchen has been purchased by the district – allowing the culinary arts program to return to Carihi, after being hosted at North Island college last year.
According to the district, when the new portables arrive, they will be located at the upper parking area between F-wing and C-wing.
The kitchen portable will be located beside Cari’s infant and toddler centre.
“I need to recognize the city, for the support that they provided, ensuring that barriers and roadblocks are removed from the planning stages” states Cizmic. “The support has been tremendous and [it recognizes] how important Carihi is to the community… it’s been great to work in partnership with the city.”
The district says its hopeful the portables may be completed sooner.
