During the May 7, 2024, Prairie South School Division Board (PSSD) meeting the 2025-2027 Preventative Maintenance Renewal (PMR) plan was approved. 

The Ministry of Education requires that an annual updated plan be submitted and approved by the Board of Education before May 31. 

During discussion of emergent maintenance three primary issues affecting schools in Moose Jaw were addressed, and changes were recommended to be made to the 2024-2026 maintenance plan.  

“We had three emergent items that came forth. I can say that on a rainy day like today, we cover over 1,000,000 square feet of roof and we’ve only got one emergent roof area which is Lindale.” said Darren Baiton, Facilities Manager with PSSD.  

The Lindale School roof replacement is slated to begin construction in September of 2025, at an estimated cost of $300,000.  

The replacement of boilers at Ecole Palliser Heights was also addressed. A contract for that work has been awarded with an estimated cost of $350,000 and a start date of September 2025. 

The final issue addressed during the meeting was repairs to the passenger elevator at Albert E. Peacock Collegiate, which could be locked out by the Technical Safety Authority of Saskatchewan if repairs are not completed. The $300,000 elevator repair contract is in the design phase with no start date in place. 

“We are averaging about $2.1 or $2.2 million each year, which is pretty reasonable,” said Trustee Crystal Froese. “As you can see by the list that there is lots of work that will being going on in the next three years in our schools as part of the maintenance program.”  

Trustee Robert Bachmann took a moment to comment on the situation regarding preventative maintenance within PSSD. 

“Darren and his team do an amazing job of keeping our facilities functioning at such a high value, so then we have the capacity when these emerging issues arise so that they can be dealt with,” said Bachmann.  

He noted that changes to Preventative Maintenance Renewal funding have necessitated continued advocacy for sustainable, predictable funding. 

“There’s always more that we could do, unfortunately for the last two years the provincial government has capped and reduced our PMR funding,” said Bachmann.  

“Unfortunately, with older buildings, as much as our team does great work, we’re going to have an increasing number of emergent issues (that) will probably arise.” 

The $1 million price tag of the maintenance items addressed necessitated a reprioritization of repairs already slated to keep within the PMR allocation of $2.3 million. Included in the items that have been moved is the replacement of a section of A.E. Peacock Collegiate’s roof, which has been moved down to 2026.