How does Alberta add new schools?
Left out of recent announcement, growing southwest seeks answers
Parents and politicians in southwest Edmonton are calling for more transparency in how the Alberta government decides which schools to build, and when.
Especially after the Edmonton Public School Board reported last month that it projects its high schools will be full by 2021, and 6,000 spaces short by 2025. Edmonton Catholic high schools will be at 97 per cent capacity by 2021, that district projects.
With both of his children in packed schools, Rutherford parent Daylin Breen said it was “shocking” not to see funding for a new high school in southwest Edmonton included in the premier’s announcement this week of 26 new school construction projects.
“If it’s not announced soon, we have a serious problem that this government will have to deal with at some point,” said Breen, pointing to the Edmonton public schools’ projection.
While he was happy to see three public school projects announced, trustee Nathan Ip said the lack of information about how the government chooses what to fund, and when, is a constant source of frustration for parents and school boards alike.
“This is not a luxury we’re asking for. This is not a new shiny toy that we can do without. These are our children’s lives here, and the reality is, we’re faced with a point where we literally will not have any space to accommodate high school students. If that’s not a crisis, I’m not sure what is,” said Ip, the public school trustee for southwest Edmonton’s Ward H.
After a glut of 200 schools announced in 2014 and 2015, then two years of no announcements, Premier Rachel Notley said Tuesday six of 26 new and modernized school construction projects are coming to Edmonton during the next four years. They include a renovation and expansion to Ben Calf Robe-St. Clare K-9 school at 11833 64 St., a consolidation and modernization of Highlands Junior High at 11509 62 St. into a K-9 school, a new Catholic elementary school in the Orchards at Ellerslie, a new public junior high in the Meadows near 23 Avenue and 17 Street, a new public elementary in McConachie north of 167 Avenue and east of 66 Street, and a replacement for francophone high school Joseph-Moreau at 9750 74 Ave.
Edmonton public had hoped to build a Grade 7-12 school for 2,400 students in the Glenridding area north of 41 Avenue SW and east of 170 Street SW, but it didn’t make the cut. Terwillegar’s Lillian Osborne High School is currently undergoing an expansion to fit in another 600 students, but that’s not nearly enough to handle the expected load.
Before his two sons moved to the new Roberta MacAdams school in Blackmud Creek this fall, Daxesh Dalal said his boys were among 1,150 children shoehorned into Johnny Bright K-9 school in Rutherford.
One of his son’s classrooms was in Johnny Bright’s library last year, which was noisy and disruptive when other classes came to use the learning commons.
“Is he going to be faced with that in high school? Those are very important years to move on to the future,” said Dalal. “... I want to make sure that he gets a good quality education in an adequate space for him to learn.”
Dalal spent the morning the province announced the new schools checking his phone, and was left wondering when the next batch of announcements might come.
As the Catholic school board discussed its new capital plan Tuesday, Boris Radyo, assistant superintendent of educational planning services, said the board’s most pressing need for high school space is in Castle Downs. Trustees voted to bump that project higher on the request list.
The board has also asked the education ministry to add a larger expansion to Holy Trinity High School in Mill Woods to accommodate 150 more students than originally intended.
Some children, trustee Marilyn Bergstra noted, are riding the bus “extreme distances” to schools in older neighbourhoods because new suburban ones are beyond full.
Each year, 61 Alberta school boards must assemble three-year plans that rank district schools which need construction, modernization, or replacement. What happens after they send their lists to the government is too “opaque,” Ip said.
“To have a planning process that artificially asks us to pit one against the other is unfair, and it’s not justified, and it’s not helpful,” he said.
Ip said it’s time for the government to revamp the process.
Although a government manual says school utilization rates and building condition are major factors in decision making, some — including a Conservative MP — say the decisions are too political.
Edmonton Riverbend MP Matt Jeneroux has two daughters, ages 8 and 9, and he wonders where they’ll go to high school when Lillian Osborne, Harry Ainlay and Louis St. Laurent high schools are all full.
More new schools should have been announced, particularly in the rapidly growing southwest, he said, adding how to pay for them is the province’s problem.
But Education Minister David Eggen, in an email response, said Jeneroux’s comments are “particularly rich” since the former MLA for Edmonton-South West “failed repeatedly to advocate for his constituents and get schools built in their communities.”
This is not a luxury we’re asking for. This is not a new shiny toy that we can do without.