During the last School District No. 5 (SD5) board meeting, Board Chair Frank Lento requested the board explore replacing Frank J Mitchell Elementary School (FJM) as well as Isabella Dicken Elementary School (IDES).
Due to aging infrastructure and space limitations Lento said he hopes to replace both schools in the future, and it was decided that Lento would explore a blueprint and business plan for the schools replacement during the board meeting.
“Isabella Dicken was built in 1964 and there’s three portables there,” Lento said. “It’s over utilized and it’s an old, old building [so] we want to pursue that.”
Currently there are 350 students enrolled in Kindergarten through to Grade 6 at IDES, while FJM educates 357 students between Kindergarten and Grade 6.
Built around 1970, Lento states, “It’s another old building in the valley,” of the Sparwood Elementary School.
“We’ve got some [schools] here in the valley that we want to get replaced,” Lento added, noting that as of now the boards priority is to replace Mount Baker Secondary School in Cranbrook.
He noted that the request during the board meeting was simply for information, adding, “There’s nothing to report at this time, I just asked for that information.”