BC spending $10.5M for portables at West Kelowna elementary school

The provincial government is spending $10.5 million for an addition at a West Kelowna elementary school that will include seven new “prefabricated” classrooms.

The prefabricated classrooms, or portables, at Chief Tomat Elementary School will be connected by corridors, according to a Ministry of Education media release issued today, May 27.

The new classrooms will provide the school with room for 165 more students.

The ministry said the prefabricated designs are a way of coping with the record population growth in the Central Okanagan.

"We are expanding schools quickly as the school district welcomes more students,” Ministry of Education Rachna Singh said in the release.

The ministry doesn’t say when the new classrooms at Chief Tomat will be ready for students.

"To support the rapid growth of the Central Okanagan, the board of education prioritizes advocating for funding of classroom space and we appreciate this investment in our learners," Central Okanagan school board chair Lee-Ann Tiede said in the release.

The province also recently announced five new prefabricated classrooms at North Glenmore Elementary school in Kelowna. Those should be ready by this fall.

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