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May 22, 2013 - 8:54 AM
Youth living in the the Upper Mission area of Kelowna will have a school of their own in the not too distant future. The Central Okanagan School District announced yesterday it has pinned down a location for the site of the future school that will service grades six through eight.
The seven-acre site will be nestled within the Ponds' Village Heights neighbourhood, adjacent to an existing park and beside a village centre to be built in the coming years.
The district says a new school for the upper Mission has been a top priority, along with rebuilding the Rutland Middle School and Glenmore Elementary Schools. School Board Chairperson Moyra Baxter says existing elementary schools in the Mission are over-capacity with students from kindergarten through grade seven.
"The elementary schools are all bursting at the seams," Baxter says of Anne Mclymont and Dorothea Walker Elementary. "It will greatly relieve pressure on those schools."
Before the district completes its purchase of the property they must ensure the zoning allows for the land's future use as an academic insitution. Baxter says the plans to re-zone will go to city council in the next few months. The next step will be getting the government money to help pay for the project.
"Right now all we have is permission to purchase the propery, then we have to lobby the government to provide funds to build the school on it," Baxter says.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Julie Whittet at jwhittet@infotelnews.ca or call (250)718-0428.
News from © iNFOnews, 2013