MLA's and Horizon School Division Trustees line up to cut the ribbon in the division's new office building to officially open it. (Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff)

By Aaron Schulze

Horizon School Division Office

Horizon School Division celebrates grand opening of new central office building

Nov 15, 2019 | 2:56 PM

It took nearly 10 months of use before they could celebrate, but the Horizon School Division held its grand opening for its new central office building.

The building on Eighth Avenue began construction in 2015 and has been in use since January 2019. It features a removable wall that can open space for up to 150 people for larger training sessions and technology to conduct videoconferences and teleconferences.

Compared to other education facilities in Saskatchewan, Minister of Education Gordon Wyant said the Horizon School Division’s building is the most modern.

“It has all the state of the art equipment,” Wyant said. “One of the great things about bringing all the facilities together is the ability for the school division to provide up to date professional development to teachers. When you have a building like this, where you can bring the resources together in a modern facility with a lot of technology, it’s good for the delivery of public education, teachers, and administration. It’s a pretty impressive building.”

Kevin Garinger, Horizon School Division’s director of education, previously told northeastNOW during the previous five years of operation before the new building, half of the division staff would be in a rented space in the Olymel building across the street and the other half were located in the office quonset across the City of Humboldt. He said the division decided to build the new facility because their lease at the Olymel site ran out and they wanted all staff under one roof.

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The building cost nearly $6.2 million but Garinger said the division will save money down the line without renting space.

Wyant praised the Horizon School Division for properly going through the process to get the new building approved.

“There are all the issues with capital funding and the work that needs to be done with the ministry. The ministry needs to approve the development of the facility,” he said. “We want to make sure the resources provided to school divisions are used in the most efficient way for public education.

“We’re sure glad to see this come to an end. We know with the facilities, as widespread as they were, it was really a challenge for the school division to provide a quality education. This is going to be very helpful for kids in the classroom.”

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow