Central Okanagan school district breaks ground on $124M high school, more schools still needed

The Central Okanagan School District is over capacity, but $162 million from the province is helping meet the need for more classrooms. The school district is at 111 per cent capacity but it has broken ground on the new $124 million George Pringle Secondary School which will add 1,200 new seats for students as early as 2027. “That construction is underway. The piles, and the foundations are going in,” the district’s superintendent Kevin Kardaal said. In June, the provincial government gave the school district $162 million for several school projects, including $121 million for George Pringle, and the other $3 million came from the school district. The rest of the provincial funding is split between $23 million for an extension to Hudson Road Elementary and $15 million for land for a new school near the Kelowna airport. Kardaal said these projects are going to help but the district is still going to need more schools. “Kelowna, West Kelowna and Lake Country are some of the fastest growing communities in Canada. We are going to need new schools and new school sites,” he said. Kardaal said growth slowed down this year. For the past six years the district has grown by roughly 430 to 520 students per year. This year it grew by 149 new students. “We expect the growth to slow. Not end, but slow down somewhat,” he said. The school district currently has more than 25,500 students, and although growth has slowed down recently, the district has several projects on the go. READ MORE: Mortgage on Kelowna starter home double what most people can afford https://infotel.ca/inhome/mortgage-on-kelowna-starter-home-double-what-most-people-can-afford/it107356 The provincial funding allocated $23 million for an extension for Hudson Road Elementary which will add 265 new seats. There are five prefabricated classrooms funded for North Glenmore Elementary which will add 120 seats, and 12 a classroom addition for 300 students at École Dr. Knox Middle. The district currently has roughly 124 portables with plans to add up to 10 more. Portables add seats for students quickly, but Kardaal said prefabricated additions to existing schools are a good mind-term solution since they can be built in half the time as a regular addition, and they last longer than portables. “They can go up so much faster.... a prefab, because it's pre-built it can be up in a year, year and a half and that makes a big difference,” he said.  The district has several projects on the go, but there is still a lot to do in the future. “Our next school we need is no doubt a sort of Glenmore middle-secondary. We need an elementary up in Wilden,” he said. “We really do need either full additions or a replacement to Rutland (Middle School). We need a huge renovation to get rid of all the portables.” To contact a reporter for this story, email Jesse Tomas mailto:jtomas@infonews.ca  or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. Find our Journalism Ethics policy here. https://infotel.ca/newsitem/code-of-ethics/it106782 We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .