Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 15/98) - When the new and improved Weledeh Catholic school opens in the fall of 2000, students, teachers and the board will simply be tenants.

The school is going to be the first Northern "public-private partnership" venture in which developers build the school, to their specifications with some input from the board, and lease it back to the school board.

"We will probably pay on a monthly basis for, let's say, 15 to 20 years and there's an option to buy. It's not predetermined and it will be bought at fair market value. There's no bargain in it," said Annalise Van Ham, assistant superintendent of business with the Catholic school board.

It has not been determined who will choose the developer, but it could be the GNWT who selects the contractor through a tendering process.

The school will be a safe investment for the developer, although the company will have to be smart in how they build it.

"It is being tested by the government's going rate and the developer would be challenged to find financing at that rate," said Van Ham.

"That's what public-private partnerships are all about," said Don Kindt, assistant superintendent of instruction with the board.

The school will be like no other in the city. For starters, a transition zone is being considered between the existing St. Patrick high school and Weledeh. The new building will be attached and make use of the existing mechanical and heating systems at St. Patrick.

The Weledeh transitional area is being designed for 350 students, with discrete zones set up for the kindergarten to Grade 2, grades 3 to 5 and grades 6 to 8 to bring the campus in line with the NWT Education Department's 950-student capacity requirement. There's also a new gym in the works.

Like St. Patrick, Weledeh will be open to partnerships with local agencies and businesses.

One partnership is to bring in finances to enhance the gymnasium. Another may result in leased space, potentially for federally-funded programs like a toy lending and play centre.

As part of the project the existing high school will see an increase of four classrooms.

Weledeh a guinea pig

To figure out exactly how public-private partnerships work, many of the partners, including government and board officials, visited the East Coast recently. The trip was funded by the territorial government.

School board representatives travelled to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and walked through a number of schools built under similar P3 arrangements..

The tour helped them identify what they can expect in a P3 facility, what type of relationship that can be fostered between partners and information related to leasing a school facility.

"It was a chance for us to basically do some homework on the whole concept and really talk to people from all the different side involved," said Kindt.

Van Ham said the program is working so well in Nova Scotia that school boards have put forward requests for proposals for 31 schools.

"We're very grateful to our politicians. It's good to have a government that is very innovative and creative," said board superintendent Loretta Foley.

Back in the NWT, government officials estimate that the Weledeh school renovations and upgrades will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $9.2 million.

If the developer finds another way of doing it or wishes to develop other sources to cut down on costs they can go ahead.

The board is now preparing a request for proposals and request for qualification to send out to the public.

"We're grateful for this opportunity, grateful to our government. We're very positive about the opportunity," said Foley.