A delay in construction means students will have to wait until the second semester to begin training in the new trades centre at NorKam.
(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
May 14, 2014 - 4:08 PM
KAMLOOPS - A significant number of students will be affected by a delay in the construction of the new NorKam Trades Centre of Excellence.
School District 73 Superintendent Terry Sullivan says they were expecting the centre to be ready for the beginning of the school year but construction delays mean it won’t be ready until late September or early October.
The district looked at starting classes at that point but because the program integrates hands-on and theory at the same, and safety concerns around being in the building during construction, opted to start courses in the second semester.
“There’s some disappointment we weren’t able to hit the first week of September,” Sullivan says of the difficult decision to put off the start of the trades classes.
While the delays mean hands-on trades classes will not be able to begin at the beginning of the school year the project is still expected to come in at the $7.4 million budget.
More than 100 students have applied to the program, but staff had not yet sorted through them. Sullivan explains the logistics need to be considered because they go to the trades centre for one semester and then back to their home school.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infotelnews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014