The first of a dozen public meetings discussing the future of Calgary’s public high schools was held in the city’s southeast on Tuesday.
Parents gathered at Lord Beaverbrook High School for a two-hour open house discussing high school utilization and student enrolment.
According to the Calgary Board of Education (CBE), projections show that 10 of their high schools will be operating between 100 and 150 per cent of their capacity within the next five years, while seven will be between 50 and 85 per cent capacity.
Only three high schools are projected to be within the balanced utilization range (85-100 per cent) that best supports student learning.
“When student enrolment at a school is either too high or too low it affects student access, flexibility and choice in programming and extracurricular activities including athletics and clubs for students,” the CBE expressed on its website.
“It simply does not make sense to have several schools with an abundance of available space while many others are full beyond their capacity.”
To deal with the issue, the CBE is turning to stakeholders for help.
The Director of Property, Planning and Transportation for Calgary Board of Education said they have four factors they want to discuss with parents: grade configuration, boundaries, locations of programs and growth or reduction of alternative programs.
“Our aim through this work is to balance enrolment across all of our high schools,” Carrie Edwards said. “We know that in the future we will need to look at all the spaces across our city — we do have some under-utilized space and then some schools that are over-utilized.”
“What we need to look at over the next five years is how we are going to balance the enrolment.”
Jennifer Besplug, a mother of two children, told Global News she hopes the CBE gets it right.
“It’s nice to have your kids go to school as close to home as possible,” Besplug said. “Transportation time is annoying and dangerous.”
Besplug said her children will potentially be attending one of the more under-utilized CBE high schools.
“I don’t like seeing things go to waste just because nobody has done their job and re-done the lines, the boundaries,” she added.
The next public session discussing the future of CBE high schools will be held at Ernest Manning High School on Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Walk-ins are not accepted at the sessions as space is limited. Parents must pre-register to attend, and many of the sessions are already full.
However, the CBE says online engagement will be available starting the week of Sept. 30.
For more details on future meetings, visit the Calgary Board of Education’s website.
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