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Workers going to summer school

Kamloops This Week

Summer holidays begin next month, but that won’t mean the end of activity at many local schools.

Work crews are already preparing for dozens of projects at Kamloops-Thompson school district buildings, which will be completed in July and August.

Art McDonald, the school district’s  director of facilities and transportation, said work will begin in the first week of July.

“It’ll keep us going pretty good for the summer,” he said.

Last year, because of a funding freeze by the provincial government, school districts didn’t receive their regular facilities grants.

That freeze has now been lifted and the Kamloops-Thompson school district  stands to receive about $3.3 million for facility maintenance and upgrades, McDonald said.

The bulk of the work will be done atop area schools, where many roofs are in need of repair.

McDonald said schools slated to have their roofs fixed are Valleyview secondary, Aberdeen elementary, Bert Edwards elementary, Chase secondary, Dallas elementary, George Hilliard elementary, Pinantan elementary, Stuart Wood elementary, Blue River elementary and Clearwater secondary.

Other jobs include a parking-lot overhaul at NorKam secondary and renovations of an elevated walkway at South Kamloops secondary/Beattie School of the Arts.

Windows and doors will also be redone at NorKam and Westsyde secondaries.

Bert Edwards is in line to receive electrical rewiring, while the public-address system at Marion Schilling elementary will be replaced.

Fire-alarm panels will also be redone at Chase and Barriere secondaries.

A number of flooring jobs will also be completed, but the school district hasn’t yet prioritized the projects.

McDonald said about 90 per cent of the summer jobs are contracted out.

“We don’t do a lot of these big summer projects ourselves,” he said.

“We just don’t have the man-power to do it.”

McDonald said he expects work to begin on July 4.