The process for rebuilding Stewart Valley's school is going nowhere fast.
That's the sentiment from the Chinook School Division as they await word from their insurers on plans for rebuilding the school.
"There's no update whatsoever," said Chinook Director of Education Mark Benesh. "We're still waiting on insurers to get back to us to give us an update on those costs. So we're kind of in a holding pattern along with the school community. I would say there's some level of frustration all around because we would like to be moving this forward."
A fire destroyed the school in August of 2022 and students have been displaced ever since.
"Our insurers are doing an evaluation of the costs that came in through the tender," said Chinook Manager of Transportation & Facilities Kevin Jones. "They're doing their background work on it to verify numbers and to try to come up with a comprehensive plan. From our angle, we feel we've done that, but now they want to do their analysis internally, and then they'll get back to us with what their findings were."
The school division had worked with a consultant who valued the replacement at approximately $6 million. They've done some work on the site, but things are stalled until the insurer completes their analysis.
"They've had it for a number of months now," Jones said. "I know we've had a lot of phone calls and a lot of contact back and forth. They know that we're very anxious to move forward with the project and to get some answers and work through this process."
Some local politicians expressed frustration back in May at the state of the project, while other stakeholders were moving forward on restoring sports grounds at the site of the old school.
The Chinook School Division board made a point in their final meeting before their upcoming election to reiterate their commitment to rebuilding the Stewart Valley school.