Progress continues to move forward on the replacement of Mount Baker Senior Secondary School with a new Neighbourhood Learning Centre (NLC) downtown.

The next major step is hiring a facilitator for stage two of the process and the Mount Baker Building Committee will be meeting Sept. 20 to draft a job posting for the position, says Committee Chairman Chris Johns.

Interest in the Baker Replacement project is running so high that the committee has already been receiving inquiries about the facilitator?s position, Johns says.

?I guess it?s the enthusiasm for the Neighbourhood of Learning concept that?s responsible,? (for the inquiries) Johns said. ?It seems to be spreading by word of mouth and that?s what we hoped would happen.?

Johns, who chairs the Mount Baker Building Committee, says the committee?s task now is to decide on the qualities it wants in a facilitator. ?Someone with proven experience in the field and the demonstrated ability to bring people together from competing perspectives and do what?s best for the school and the community.?

The facilitator will hold meetings throughout the community and anyone who wants input into what kind of a school should replace Baker will have the opportunity, Johns says. Last summer, the committee heard input from close to 50 individuals and organizations in a series of meetings held by Johns and fellow trustee and Baker Building Committee member Trina Ayling.

?That may sound like a lot but we?re convinced there?s a lot more input out there,? Johns says.

It?s hoped the facilitator will have his/her report completed by early 2011 and it will be in the hands of the board by the time of the spring break in March. Once the report is adopted by the Board it will be ready for presentation to Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid, Johns says.

?Perhaps a delegation will go to Victoria and make a careful presentation to her,? he said. MacDiarmid toured Baker in November 2009 and she appeared to be impressed with the need for the school to be replaced, Johns said while acknowledging that other communities in the province want to have their high schools replaced as well.

?But we remain cautiously optimistic that our request (to replace Baker) will make it to the top of the pile and with all the support we?ve been getting from the local MLA we think we can make this happen.?

No one knows for sure, but if everything falls into place as expected the earliest construction could begin on the Baker replacement project would be the summer or fall of 2011. The cost of the project is likely to exceed $50 million and it could be an important step in revitalizing downtown Cranbrook.

A Neighbourhood Learning Centre is a relatively new concept in education that sees schools containing a variety of community services as well as classrooms enabling schools and students to form stronger ties with the community.