EDMONTON – The Redford government has announced a new school will be built in Edmonton’s Windermere neighbourhood.
The school will be a Kindergarten to Grade 9 Catholic school, which the Alberta government says will have a capacity of 750 students.
“These schools advance our promise to invest in Alberta’s families and communities and are part of our Building Alberta Plan. We’re committed to building 50 new schools and modernizing 70 more to ensure that students and communities have the world-class facilities they need to learn,” said Premier Alison Redford.
“We know how important it is for those 750 kids – those 750 spaces – to be ready as soon as possible,” she added, “so that families can enroll their kids and they wont need to be taking buses out to other communities.”
“It’s also to help to accommodate the incredible rapid growth in this community, in Windermere, which is experiencing great pressures on existing infrastructure.”
Sarah Hoffman, chair of the Edmonton Public School Board says the public district is feeling huge pressures too.
“We desperately need new schools.”
“You probably know that in the spring we submitted our capital plan, it had 14 schools on it, and we desperately need to see some of those get funded.”
WATCH: Global Edmonton’s editorial board with officials with Edmonton Public Schools.
The province previously announced two new schools will be built for the Edmonton Public district for 2016. However, Hoffman says, with the growing enrolment pressure, especially in communities south of the Anthony Henday, new schools are a necessity.
“The only real long term solution is to grant more schools,” says Hoffman. “We really do need them. And, if I were a parent, I would be surprised that we didn’t get any announced today. Because we really are in a situation where we’re going to have kids riding on the bus. We already have too many kids riding on buses in my opinion and we want to make sure as many kids as possible can choose to go to a school in their neighbourhood.”
A date for the start of construction on the new Edmonton Catholic school hasn’t been set.
Still, the announcement alone is welcome news for Kelly Forner, the principal of Archbishop Joseph McNeil school.
“Our schools in this part of the city are so over-utilized. This school is at 87 per cent utilization and, as a matter of fact, many of these students are being bused to Sister Margaret Mary because there isn’t any room here.”
Forner says the new school announced on Monday will help eleviate some of the capacity stresses on Archbishop Joseph McNeil school.
“We have communities out here that have 73,000 people in it, and there’s no school. So, we’re just so thrilled to have this announcement, to have this new school opening up.”
Some parents are welcoming the announcement as well.
“It’s a relief for us because it’s really nearby our house,” said Jeffrey De Hitta. “It’s just walking distance. That would be great.”
The province also announced Monday morning a new Kindergarten to Grade 6 Catholic school will be built in Calgary which will also have a capacity of 750 students.
“Our priority is to continue to provide flexible, well-designed learning facilities in communities where Alberta families live. Students deserve to attend class in their own neighbourhood, in schools tailored to meet their educational programming needs,” said Minister of Education Jeff Johnson.
According to the provincial government, the projects are two of six new schools being announced in December. The province says the six new schools will serve up to 4,200 students.
Information about school projects can be found on the Alberta Education website.
Wildrose education critic Bruce McAllister says it is doubtful the government will be able to keep its promise to finish the new schools it has promised before 2016.
McAllister says it typically takes about three years to build a school.
The NDP says the government isn’t building enough new schools to meet the demand.
NDP education critic Deron Bilous says the government’s desire to build some of the projects as public-private partnerships (P3s) is slowing the process down.
He says teachers in both Calgary and Edmonton say they’re desperate for almost 60 new schools in the next three years.
With files from The Canadian Press
Comments