New school announced for Strathmore

Times Reporter   

  

An announcement from Alberta Premier Jim Prentice last week has Golden Hills School Division (GHSD) officials excited.  On Oct. 8 Prentice announced Phase 3 of an education capital project plan that represents a 10-year build-out of new schools and school expansions. 

Strathmore is one of the lucky communities that are being promised a new school. 

“We’re certainly pleased to have the support announced by the provincial government for it,” said GHSD board chair Dave Price.

The announcement came a little earlier than expected, and has GHSD and the Town of Strathmore working together to quickly determine a suitable site for the new K-9 school. It will also be a few years minimum before the shovels hit the ground, with community consultations required and a number of other steps to be met first. From conceptual drawings to students walking through the doors can take up to five years. 

“During the announcement that Mr. Prentice spoke, he indicated that there was a cabinet committee that was going to help expedite the process with everything from planning to the actual development permits and those kinds of things, that being the case it could shorten things up a bit,” said Price. 

The last school built in town, was Strathmore High School (SHS). Over the past few years many of the schools have faced increased class sizes and staff innovation as space became more and more limited.  

“At this time, at Crowther Memorial Junior High, we are out of room to add any more portables there, no more modulars, there’s just simply no space to put them on the site, and our school is full. We could say the same thing about a number of our elementary schools as well,” said Superintendant of Schools Bevan Daverne.

“We’re really very pleased at this announcement, it’s come at the right time and it’ll be very good for the community of Strathmore and our students.”

Concerns are already being raised about the influx of students who will be heading to SHS down the road. 

“That school (SHS), we’re not quite to capacity yet on the core, but that school was designed to add in lots of space and modulars and so we’ve got lots of room for growth there. That school could easily go up to in excess of 1,000 kids, and we’re nowhere near that right now. Lots of room for expansion within that core,” said Daverne. 

Phase 1 had been announced in 2011, which included 35 schools, 31 of which are complete. In Phase 2 it was announced that 50 new schools and 70 modernizations would take place. All but five will be ready to accept new students in 2016. 

Phase 3 will consist of 230 capital projects, of which there will be 55 new schools and 20 modernizations. Phase 3 also includes $43.2 million funding to school boards this year to begin immediate planning, which will accelerate the process by approximately one year.