What could it be?
The day before the May 3 visit by local MLA and provincial cabinet minister Brian Jean to Ecole Beausejour in Plamondon, Francophone education officials were hopeful the stop would include an announcement of much-needed funding for Francophone schooling in the area.
Friday’s visit by Jean, the Minister of Energy and Minerals, to the Plamondon school is part of a day-long tour of several points in Lac La Biche County. Jean starts his morning with a visit at the recently flooded Ecole Plamondon before moving to the neighbouring Ecole Beausejour. Also attending the Beausejour visit will be 30 students from the Ecole Ste-Catherine Francophone school in Lac La Biche.
The students and staff at the school are hoping to hear some good news from the MLA.
Possible funding for Ecole Sainte-Cahterine was part of the recently announced provincial budget.
Part of the St. Paul-based Conseil scolaire Centre-Est, the Sainte-Catherine classes operate out of a 55-year-old building that was once operated by the public school board as an elementary school. A “solution for Ecole Sainte-Cahterine" is listed in the province’s 2024 school budget listings under the “full construction funding” category. There is no dollar figure or detail attached to the one-line reference to the school in the provincial budget documents.
On Thursday afternoon, Ecole Sainte-Catherine principal Mamoudou Ndongo told Lakelandtoday.ca that he was hopeful about an announcement coming from the MLA on Friday, but he didn’t know what it would be.
“The plan is to get a new school or a renovation…we don’t know yet,” Ndongo told Lakeland This Week.
Jean’s day in the community will also include meetings with municipal officials, and visits to the W. J. Cadzow hospital and the new transitional housing facility.
Follow Lakelandtoday.ca for updates on Jean’s visit and possible announcements about new Francophone school funding.
