Cold Lake Elementary School Update

The moment everyone has been eagerly waiting for is almost here. It is almost time to open our new school.

Over the last couple of weeks, things have really been coming together on the construction site. Our modular class- rooms arrived and a crane was brought in to unload them and put them in their proper locations.

The new gym is nearing completion. The plan is to use the gym to store items from the existing school so that demoli- tion can start as soon as possible.

In order for everything, including the new parking lot and bus lanes, to be ready for our September 1 opening day, it is critical that the existing school be emptied as soon as possi- ble so that demolition can begin. Everything will either need to be moved to the new school or disposed of. It cannot be left behind as all of the debris from the demolition of the old school needs to be sorted before being taken to the landfill.

To help meet the project timelines, Cold Lake Elementary students will be starting their summer break one week earlier than students in the rest of the Division. Their final day of school will be Wednesday, June 22.

Staff will continue working at the school until June 29th, using that week to pack up their classrooms and the rest of the school so that maintenance can move everything to the new school. During that time, administrative tasks will be done out of the Children’s Village, including taking new regis- trations for the 2016-2017 school year.

Once the school is empty and staff are no longer on site, the demolition process will begin. The demolition process is complex and will take some time. Once demolition has occurred, all of the debris needs to be sorted and removed from the site. After that the ground needs to be prepared for the new parking lot and bus lanes before paving and landscaping can

If everything goes as planned and large amounts of rain do not slow the progress of the project, everything should be ready for the start of the new school year. If the process is hampered by weather or other factors, the school and the Division will put contingency plans in place to provide access to the school in September.

On Thursday, June 16, we will hold a special ceremony at our school to say goodbye to the current school and begin the transition process to the new school.

We will have having a special early recess at 1:30 p.m. that day. While the students are outside on the playground, former staff, students and members of the community will be invited to take a walk down “memory lane” and get a last look at the school.

At 2 p.m. we will have a special celebration to share stories and say goodbye to our school.

To celebrate the new school and give the community and students a chance to see it before the first day of school, we will be hosting an open house in the late afternoon/early evening of August 30. Watch the Cold Lake Elementary website and Facebook page for more details as they become available.

As you can see on the front of this newsletter, our new school will also have a new mascot and a new logo. Heart- ly the Dragon represents what Cold Lake Elementary is all about. He is a kind, friendly dragon with a big heart who

loves his school and all of its students. He will be waiting for us at the new school when we go there in September!

*Press Release from Northern Lights School Division