LANIGAN — A brand new K-12 school will be built in Lanigan, replacing an elementary and a high school.
The province is investing $21 million into the project.
“We are very excited to have received approval for a new school building project in the community of Lanigan,” said Kevin Garinger, Horizon School Division’s director of education.
“The consolidation of the Lanigan schools will reduce the operating costs and ensure an efficient facility for the community and area.”
The new school was announced July 23.
Donna Harpauer, the MLA for Humboldt–Watrous, went to Lanigan Central High School as a student.
“I think it will be huge for Lanigan,” she said. “I think they're going to be extremely excited about a new school.”
Both the elementary and the high schools are at the end of their life cycle.
“I don't know the date of the elementary school but I know the high school was not new when my oldest brother would have started there and he's over 70 years old now, so it is not a new school by any means and very dated,” Harpauer said.
The high school was built in 1956, while the elementary was built in 1965. Garinger said the high school has no HVAC system for air exchanges.
“The capital cost to retrofit the facility with an HVAC system would be better spent on a new facility for the next 50 years,” he said.
Garinger said the timeline for the project will be determined over the coming months.
Each year, school divisions are asked to submit a list of the major projects they desire funding for to the provincial government. The education ministry then weighs eight factors to determine which project should get priority: health and safety, utilization, efficiency, growth, functionality, community, facility condition, and project evaluation.
Harpauer said the project wasn’t originally on the books this year, but it was made possible with a $2 billion injection into infrastructure projects aimed at stimulating the provincial economy.
The Lanigan project is one of six school projects receiving $110.5 million from the pandemic infrastructure stimulus. They are in addition to seven previously announced projects, which includes the consolidation of the two Carrot River schools.
