Battle brewing over Edmonton land designated for schools

A battle is brewing over who should be allowed to build on sites set aside for new schools. The City of Edmonton is taking steps to sell two locations to private schools and that has the public board pushing back.

Headway School, a private school and catering to the Sikh community, is searching to move from its current location at 104 Avenue and 76 Street because the majority of its 350 students are from the Mill Woods area.

“The Poor children who are born and bred in Mill Woods, they are 45 minutes on the bus,” Headway School principal Jagwinder Sidhu said.

Sidhu said the long bus ride is hard on the kids and limits the after school activities they can offer.

“We want to have soccer here, we want to have volleyball here, we want to have badminton here, we want to have some other clubs here, but parents say we can’t pick them up because it’s too far.”

The school believes it’s found a solution in the heart of Mill Woods.

The land they’re pursuing is designated for a public school, but the board doesn’t need it, so Headway School has offered to buy it from the city, and build a $6 million facility. It’s a deal city council is willing to explore.

“It’s going to be its original purpose, which was a school, and they’re going to pay full dollars to the city for it, so it seems a very positive situation,” Ward 2 Councillor Bev Esslinger said.

But Edmonton Public School Board chair Michael Janz doesn’t agree.

“If there’s too many schools available, and there’s not enough students to sustain those schools, that leads to inefficiencies in operations and ultimately can put pressure on school districts to look at school closures and other processes like that,” Janz said.

Sidhu said his small school is no threat to the public system, but he’s not surprised by the push back.

“Whenever there’s a monopoly, you always expect that.”

Sidhu hopes the city and the neighbourhood will give the school the opportunity to give Headway students the best education possible.

The Muslim Association of Canada has made an offer to purchase a surplus site in north Edmonton. Both offers will come up for public review in the new year.