View From the Legislature

On Monday morning I had the opportunity to join local municipal officials and those from the Hanover School Division to announce a significant expansion to Mitchell Elementary School.

Mitchell has grown extensively over the last twenty years, and like many areas across Manitoba, Mitchell needs improvement to accommodate an increased number of students and better learning environment for the students who call Mitchell home. For too long, children in the community have had to make do with spaces that do not facilitate the best learning opportunities, such as teaching classes in the library, and facing a lack of resource and guidance space. This Kindergarten-Grade 4 school community is only expected to grow over the coming years, and Mitchell is already battling overcrowding.

This new addition and renovation project will add five new classrooms, a new library, a new multipurpose space and other areas, and will cover about 12,600 square feet of new space at Mitchell Elementary. The project will begin being designed early next year with construction to begin after tendering later in 2019. I appreciate the fact that the teachers and administration of the school, along with the students, have been patient as the capacity concerns have grown. The multi-million dollar expansion is intended to help the needs of the growing community for the years ahead. This school expansion will make a difference not only to those students that are just beginning their educational journey at Mitchell Elementary, but it will help build a sense of community for years to come as the school and community grow together.

These types of investments are critical to allow Manitoba’s school infrastructure to keep up with growth in communities. Our priority is to address the needs of areas where growth has continued, and there is a lot of catching up to do on this issue. We are working to ensure community schools have the spaces they need to provide students with quality education right across Manitoba. Thank you again to the residents of Mitchell who have been advocating for this announcement and for building a tremendous community.