Rivière Qui Barre parents are celebrating this month after the province stepped up to fund a new playground for their local school.
Education Minister Adriana LaGrange announced June 2 she would spend $5 million to fund 26 additional playgrounds through a grant program, including $190,000 for one at the new Camilla School.
“It is crucial, now more than ever, to help projects like these move ahead for schools and communities during these challenging times,” LaGrange said in a statement.
Construction of the long-awaited replacement for Camilla School is now underway in Rivière Qui Barre.
The province announced a grant of up to $250,000 for playgrounds at new schools back in 2017. It wasn’t clear back then if the new Camilla School, announced that same year, qualified for the grant, as it was a replacement school rather than a new one, said Trisha Normandeau of the Camilla School Support Association. Parents raised $60,000 for the new school’s playground in the last two years, during which one of the community’s two playground was torn down.
Normandeau said this playground funding is big news for the school and the community as a whole, as there are just a handful of playgrounds in that part of the county.
“Physical activity is huge for healthy student development,” she said, and the school’s playgrounds are typically used every day.
Normandeau said the association is now finalizing its design for the playground – expect swings, slide and other staples, she said – and hope to have it built by Fall 2021.
