Province's decision to scrap Gimli music room expansion hits sour note

Students, parents and staff at Gimli High School are calling on the province to let them go ahead with planned renovations to the school's music room after it reversed an earlier decision to approve the project.

The Evergreen School Division board voted in June of this year to self-fund a scaled-down, $1.2-million renovation after the Public Schools Finance Board told them the province was pulling out of an agreement to fund a more ambitious expansion of the facility it had approved in March 2017.

The original project would have included a new 1,600-square-foot band room and a 860-square-foot sound engineering space, at a cost of about $1.4 million. The division decided to go ahead self-funding the smaller version of the project in order to fix existing problems with the room, including issues with heating, wheelchair accessibility, space and acoustics.

In August, however, the PSFB told the division it would not get approval to do the renovations.

"It is just crushing," said Diana Auer, a school trustee whose son attends the music program at Gimli High School.

So far, the division has set aside $600,000 for the project, which was expected to start in spring of 2019 and be completed by fall that same year.

"The community is so very supportive of the project and they're all in favour of using their taxpayers' dollars for this project. It's the will of the community, so I'm not understanding why it's being denied."

In the winter months, students often practise with their jackets on, and instruments have been damaged because of the cold seeping into the room, Auer said. A wheelchair ramp also doesn't meet code, and there isn't enough room for all the students in the program.

"So it's not just something that we need to have because we want it. It's something that we need in the school," Auer said.

After the province withdrew approval for the project, Auer says students went to Gimli MLA Jeff Wharton's office and delivered 107 letters from students and teachers asking for the project to be allowed to proceed.

The provincial government issued a statement, saying approval for the project was revoked as part of an ongoing K-12 review.

"We have carefully reviewed capital projects and made some difficult decisions to cancel or at minimum delay spending," the statement said. "We understand that the music room is a priority project for Gimli and will continue to consider the project as we advance the K-12 review and continue to improve our finances."

That response does not clear up any of Auer's confusion.

"We're really not sure why a self-funded project would have to wait until next year to find out what they're planning on doing with their education review," she said.

The school division has asked Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen to reverse the PSFB's decision to deny the project. In a letter to parents, the division says they have requested, but have not received, a meeting with the minister.