'Good things take time'
Dehcho Divisional Education Council superintendent talks Charles Tetcho school expansion
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, March 17, 2016
SAMBAA K'E/TROUT LAKE
Bids are being reviewed for the first stage of a planned expansion to Charles Tetcho School in Trout Lake.
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment is planning to double the size of the school's classroom and allow for a separate area for the school's aboriginal language program.
Pilings and footings for the addition are expected to be installed in 2016, while construction of the addition is slated for 2017.
Dehcho Divisional Education Council superintendent Terry Jaffray told Deh Cho Drum in February there is no set completion date for the expansion but construction materials for the pilings were expected to already be on their way to the community via Trout Lake's winter road.
"It takes a bit of time. But good things take time, right?" Jaffray said.
"What we're hoping is it would be the fall of 2017 that it would be finished, if everything goes well."
Bids closed recently on a tender for procurement, delivery and driving of piling foundations. According to the GNWT's contracts website, the project attracted two bids: one from an Alberta company for $294,532 and the other from Rowe's Construction for $198,678.
An increase to the school's size will mean it can start up its junior kindergarten programming while still giving older students a better work space.
Trout Lake, whose population hovers around 100, currently has more than 20 students enrolled at Charles Tetcho School. The school includes kindergarten to Grade 10.
"They're the only community where we have steady growth," Jaffray said.
"They have a lot of young men and women who, after finishing school here, have gone back to the community and they're working there. So (the community has) a lot of young people, a lot of kids."
Jaffray said the education council has collaborated with the Sambaa K'e Dene Band council about the future of the school and the possibility of a junior kindergarten program going forward.
"In Trout Lake, we didn't have junior kindergarten this year because the school is too full," Jaffray said.
"The community felt they didn't want to bring in four-year-olds when it's so crowded, and it would be difficult to do (a) play-based program because there (isn't) enough room."
After the addition is completed, the school will continue to share its hall and gym with the community.
