School District 10 board of education members gave the go ahead for a $3.1-million child care centre at Nakusp Elementary School (NES) during a meeting on Sept. 28.
The centre is anticipated to open in 18-24 months and it will create 60 new child-care spaces for kindergarten to Grade 7 students and 36 spaces for kids between the ages of zero and five.
Each child-care area in the centre will be equipped with at least one washroom and a small kitchen. One larger space for the 60 K-7 students will be equipped with two washrooms and a larger kitchen area.
SD10 staff will now try to complete the project as best they can during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have to make sure we’re taking into consideration the needs of the school during the project, the challenges of construction in the winter in the Kootenays and the fact the job is being done around additional factors when dealing with a pandemic,” said SD10 superintendent Terry Taylor.
“We saw that with the Goat Mountain child care Centre in New Denver, building supplies took a little longer to arrive than it would’ve normally if we hadn’t been in a pandemic.”
Flooring, lights and plumbing supplies were some materials that didn’t arrive on time and the GMCC is scheduled to open six weeks later than previously thought on Oct. 19.
SD 10 officials hope to set out the timeline for the NES child care centre project over the next week. They also recently met with an architect to discuss the project.
While four school board trustees voted in favour of the project during the meeting, trustee Christine Dixon voted to oppose it.
The district has secured a $3 million grant from the Ministry of Family and Child Development and $150,000 in funding from the Columbia Basin Trust to help complete the project.
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