EDMONTON – The Edmonton Catholic school board has voted to pass a capital plan which could see four schools reduced to one sometime in the future.
The four schools that could be affected are in the southeast part of Edmonton and include St. Brendan, St. Gabriel, St. James, and St. Kevin.
If funding for the project is approved by the province, the replacement school would be a kindergarten to grade nine school. At this point in time, though, no exact location for the school has been decided; however, consideration is being given to the current site of St. Bernard school, along 72 street and 96A avenue.
Catholic school board chair Becky Kallal says the move is the board “biting the bullet” because the province has allegedly told them that in order “to get more new schools, they need to address poor utilization issues.”
The four schools have a total capacity of 2,640 students but with only 761 spots filled, are only about 30 per cent full.
They are also more than 50 years old, and maintaining all of them over the next five years would cost more than $22 million.
School board trustees will now spend the next few weeks going through their projects. The amalgamation is the board’s third priority, with an elementary/junior high in Windermere and one in Ellerslie-Summerside ahead of it.
If approved by the province, the Edmonton Catholic school district is committed to providing $10 million for the new school which is estimated to cost around $21 million.
With files from Quinn Ohler and Nancy Carlson, Global News
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