B.C.’s Education Minister says she has received a letter from the Kamloops-Thompson School District asking her to help expedite the land transfer process so that the school district can acquire Crown land for the new Batchelor Heights elementary school.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Rachna Singh said her office will look into the request from SD73.

“We are constantly in touch with the school district. I have regular conversations with the Board Chair, Heather Grieve, and listening to their concerns,” Singh said. “We have received this letter and we’ll look at it very seriously.”

The later dated Feb. 17, says SD73 has “attempted to appeal” to Nathan Cullen, the Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, asking him to expedite the application process for the new school site, near the Batchelor Nature Park.

It also noted that the Crown grant application – which was expedited by the Ministry of Forests last year – is needed before funding for the school can be approved by the Ministry of Education.

“On April 19, 2023, our Director of Facilities, Mr. Art McDonald, had been informed that the Order In Council request had been sent to Victoria for processing,” SD73 Board Chair, Heather Grieve, said, in the letter.

“Our Board appeals to you for your assistance to make the processing of this Crown Grant application a high priority. Your support is appreciated and necessary now to help us to expedite the funding approval for the new Batchelor Heights Elementary School.”

Grieve also said that the district has to move 90 students from Batchelor Heights to a pair of non-catchment area schools, to alleviate pressure on Westmount Elementary, which is at 181 per cent capacity.

“The need to expedite this application was because our Board had just approved a catchment change to manage the overflow of students…while we wait for funding approval and construction of a new school in Batchelor Heights,” Grieve said.

Asked whether the land transfer process could happen this year, Singh says this year’s capital letters will be going out from her Ministry in mid-March.

“Every school district would be receiving a letter, and we can talk more about the capital projects for Kamloops after those capital letters have gone out,” Singh said.

Last month Grieve told Radio NL that many SD73 schools are facing a space crunch, with schools in Kamloops expected to be at an average capacity of 106 per cent by 2029.

A rebuilt Parkcrest Elementary and the reopening of George Hilliard Elementary, will help ease some of the pressure in North Kamloops, according to SD73. Construction on a new school in Pineview Valley is also expected to begin this year, and be completed by the summer of 2026.

SD73 got approval from the Ministry of Education to begin planning for the new Batchelor Heights elementary school in April 2022.