Regina school divisions to study building joint-use southeast high school

Regina’s two school divisions are agreeing to collaboratively study the details of building a joint-use school in the city’s growing southeast area.

They announced the news Tuesday evening.

The Catholic and public school divisions are calling it a feasibility study. It’s to include an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (what they dub a SWOT analysis), potential locations, getting the land to build it, capital planning and funding, what the building will need and any legislative parameters.

The City of Regina and the YMCA of Regina are also signing on as partners in the study; they’ll be on a steering committee and kicking in money to complete the study.

The cost of the study isn’t yet known.

Of the need for such a school, a media release from the school boards said “student enrolment is growing. Currently, southeast Regina high school students are served by Miller Comprehensive and Dr. Martin LeBoldus Catholic high schools and Balfour and Campbell collegiates, all of which are nearing enrolment capacity and none of which are in Regina’s southeast.”

The school boards said they hope to use such a building in a way that gives “an opportunity to maximize infrastructure, investment and community in an inclusive and collaborative facility that offers more together than the partners could on their own.”

The media release didn’t define what that means.

It did hint that such a building could be “a campus setting that maximizes opportunities at a local, municipal and regional level.”

“Working collaboratively with our partners in education, Regina Public Schools, has worked well in the past,” Bob Kowalchuk, the Catholic school board’s chairperson, said in the media release. “We expect having additional support from other community partners will only add to the potential success of this study.”

Katherine Gagne, the public school board’s chairperson, said in the release, “This is a first, but important step in determining the feasibility of a southeast Regina facility, and, most importantly, meeting the educational needs of our students as our enrolment continues to swell.”