Parents in Warman, Sask., are raising concerns over overcrowding at Warman High School, calling for faster progress on a long-proposed new school to serve the growing student population.
“Our kids’ learning cannot be held up anymore by bureaucracy and indecision,” said parent Laura Davies.
Davies is one of several parents speaking out about the school’s current state.
“Warman High School is at 103 per cent capacity,” she said. “Not only is it just the physical classroom spaces that are a barrier to kids being able to learn or to implement specific programming, we also know that our school have lots of high needs.”
Discussions around the need for more space began in 2022 when Prairie Spirit School Division and the Greater Saskatoon Catholic School Division submitted a proposal for a regional joint-use high school between Warman and Martensville.
“We need these spaces, and we need these spaces like yesterday,” said Davies. “And our primary concern as parents is we need to get this built.”
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The school project is currently in the approval stages. According to the Ministry of Education, building a new school in Saskatchewan involves several steps, including submitting a capital plan, project prioritization, design development, tendering, and construction.
Despite being listed on the province’s roster of future capital projects, the school was not included in this year’s budget announcement, which prioritized five new schools in Saskatoon.
“This is a priority for us,” said Saskatchewan Education Minister Everett Hindley. “We want to ensure that we do everything we can to try and advance this project to the next stage of the approval process. It has been identified by the divisions and the community that this is a priority. But, there’s a number of steps that need to be looked at and taken.”
The school was not included in the 2025 provincial budget, which announced five new schools for Saskatoon.
The Ministry has stated the project remains on its list of future capital projects.
However, some parents say they’re growing frustrated waiting for the red tape to fall.
“Hopefully with the public’s support, it will provide them with the motivation to take the necessary next steps to secure these additional learning spaces,” said Davies.
Municipal support is mixed. Warman Mayor Gary Philipchuk acknowledged the need for action, while also raising questions about the proposed location of the school.
“If our community is accepting that location, then we’ll go with that location,” said Philipchuk. “But I think it’s just knowing the limitations and really maybe the tax hit that will happen because of that location compared to building a high school in each of our communities.”
Meanwhile, a petition urging the City of Warman to support the project has gathered hundreds of signatures.
“Construction, budgeting, all those things take time. So we cannot have any more inaction,” said Davies.
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