Edmonton Public will close three schools, replace with new school

EDMONTON – The Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) is calling on three separate communities to consider closing their schools to make way for a brand new K-Grade 9 school.

The province is committing $20 million to help build a new replacement school, which will consolidate an existing junior high and two elementary schools (in one of the three communities) into a new or modernized K-9 school.

The move is part of a plan announced by the province in January.

The three areas being considered are:

Greater Highlands (Highlands, Montrose, and Mount Royal schools),

Greater Lawton (Lawton, R.J. Scott, and Rundle schools),

Greater Westmount (Westmount, Coronation, and Inglewood schools)

Virginia Park school and Westglen school (in the Greater Highlands and Greater Westmount areas, respectively) may also be considered in the proposed consolidation if the community favours that.

The three areas have aging schools and some have boilers on the brink of failure. The board says it’s no longer practical – and too costly – to keep them open.

“What we know is the status quo isn’t sustainable,” said Edmonton Public Schools’ Superintendent Darrel Robertson.

“I’ve talked about our aging buildings. The cost to fully modernize each and every one of those buildings will reach approximately $1 billion by 2025, so it may not be fair to expect taxpayers to foot the bill for that work.”

For instance, Highlands School was built in 1914. It has a capacity of 645 students, but this year, enrollment is 122.

Lawton School was built in 1956. It has a capacity of 601, but enrollment stands at 174.

Westmount School was built in 1913. It has capacity for 615 students, but only 211 are enrolled this year.

The EPSB stressed that this plan is not about shutting down schools, but that it’s about community revitalization.

“We’re saying to these communities, ‘not only are we investing in a brand new, state-of-the-art school for your neighbourhood, but it’s a brand new school – it’s going to be here for years to come,’” said EPSB Chair Sarah Hoffman.

“We can offer that predictability and stability to families.”

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Three rounds of public meetings will be held in each of the areas in April, May and June.  A full schedule of those meetings is listed below.

“Our plan is have existing schools in the selected community to remain open until the replacement school is completed, two years from now, in 2016,” said Robertson.

The board will also work with community partners, including the City of Edmonton, community leagues, and the YMCA.

“Once the new school is completed, existing school facilities in the chosen area will be looked at for potential community-use,” said Robertson.

“When we take a look at providing great learning spaces for 30, 40, 50 years to come, there’s an opportunity for community to come together, to have a voice, and so we’ve structured three face-to-face meetings with our communities – one in April, one in May and one in early June – so we can hear what the aspirations of our communities are and that we can work with our partners to develop a good strategy.”

The location of the new school must be determined by the end of June. However, the board says if it needs more time for consultation, the decision may be postponed until September. However, the superintendent is hopeful the board encounters a different kind of problem.

“The problem is that we have three communities that really want this project,” said Robertson.

The school will be built on an existing site, and is scheduled to open in the fall of 2016.

More information, and an online survey, is available here.

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