Two of Calgary’s Catholic schools, which have seen a decline in enrollment in recent years, will be closing at the end of the school year.
Calgary Catholic School District trustees voted Wednesday to close St. Angela School in Bridgeland and St. Gerard School in Haysboro.
Both schools, which are kindergarten to Grade 6, no longer had enough students attending classes to be considered high enough to be sustainable, even when factoring in future population growth.
Currently, 109 students are enrolled at St. Angela, and 72 students at St. Gerard, plus six who attend St. Isidore.
Once enrollment at a school reaches fewer than 150 students, money has to be diverted from other, larger schools, to keep the smaller ones viable, according to officials.
Trustee Linda Wellman said Wednesday these decisions are based on ensuring every student gets the same learning opportunities.
“It really concerns me that St. Angela enjoys this small enrolment at the expense of others having much larger classes because, unfortunately, there’s only so many dollars to go around and so many teachers that we can hire,” she said.
“This is about ensuring that we’re able to offer quality education and equitable opportunity for every child in the Calgary Catholic School District.”
The closure of St. Angela’s School, which was also considered for closure 12 years ago, will mean Bridgeland no longer has a Catholic school.
– With files from Blake Lough, Global News