Granite Ridge Opening Delayed Until January

Jeff Green | Oct 17, 2013

Limestone District School Board officials were being optimistic in July when they targeted a November opening for the new Granite Ridge Education Centre (GREC) in Sharbot Lake.

That would have required the building to be substantially complete by the end of September to allow six weeks to finish up and co-ordinate moving students into the new building.

As late September came and went it became clear that the building was taking longer to complete than had been hoped, and last week the board sent a letter home to parents informing them that the new target for move in is the first day of classes in January, 2014.

And even that target is now being called a hope rather than a firm move-in date.

In the newsletter that was released last week, the question on all parents’ and students’ minds of when GREC would be ready for students was answered with the following statement:

“We hope to have students and staff begin classes in the new building on January 6, 2014. We are still on track to get into the building in November but contractors and facilities services staff will need a few extra weeks for finishing touches, and to completely clean and equip the building before moving in furniture, equipment and resources, and eventually students and staff. We plan to complete the installation of these items in phases throughout early to mid-December. We then hope to have students and staff tour the new building before the December break.”

Initially, the plan had been to move the students in in stages, with the primary students remaining at their temporary quarters at the former Sharbot Lake Public School site until the existing Sharbot Lake High School is demolished and the necessary landscaping can be done in order to create outdoor recreation areas for the exclusive use of primary-aged students.

That plan has now been scrapped. If all goes according to the latest plan, all 400 students will move in to the completed Granite Ridge on January 6, but the existing Sharbot Lake High School will still be in place.

While the board has acknowledged that “not all elementary play areas can be finished until the demolition is complete … we have revised our plans so that elementary students will have access to the field/wooded area at the east of the school as well as the gym during inclement weather.”

The board now expects the demolition will take place sometime in the spring of 2014.

In a letter to parents, Granite Ridge Principal Heather Highet said the delayed opening came about because some phases of construction took longer than expected.”

The newsletter added a bit more detail, saying “A province-wide roofers' strike in early spring delayed our progress. Approvals for the new septic system also took longer than anticipated."