Public schools face growth, busing hurdles
Board chairwoman seeks more measured pace of change from NDP government
If Edmonton public school board chairwoman Michelle Draper could tell Education Minister David Eggen one thing, it would be, “just slow down. My goodness.” And, she has told him.
In 2017, school boards dealt with regulatory whiplash when the provincial government introduced changes and limitations to how schools charge student fees. The wild ride will continue in 2018 as government writes new regulations for Bill 28, legislation that amended the School Act to create a universal cut-off age to begin kindergarten, allows the minister to demand school boards co-operate on busing students, and promises more changes to student transportation fees.
Modifying a complex urban school bus transportation system for 13,500 children needs one year’s notice, not a month, Draper said.
“This government is trying to do so much. I would ask for a more measured pace of change,” she said.
Eggen isn’t the only minister subject to Draper’s persuasions.
On the mid-December day she spoke with Postmedia for this story, Draper and board colleague Nathan Ip, along with the school district’s infrastructure boss Lorne Parker, were headed for a meeting with Infrastructure Minister Sandra Jansen.
Draper planned to say, “Thank you very much for the high school, but please may we have another?”
Last month, the premier announced government would fund construction of a new $79-million public high school in southwest Edmonton for 1,800 students, to be complete by 2022 or 2023. There’s a problem — Edmonton public high schools are projected to be full by 2021, and need space for 6,200 more students by 2025.
Draper also wanted to discuss the public school district’s $748-million backlog of deferred maintenance — a mounting list of upgrades and replacements needed to extend a school’s useful life.
She also wants to know what the school board’s options are with a 30-year contract between the provincial government and Honeywell to maintain the district’s nine public-private partnership schools. Parents have previously complained to the education minister about the schoolground conditions at two of those sites — Bessie Nichols and Jonny Bright schools. Draper also heard from parents of students at Dr. Donald Massey School that the drainage is poor on the site, leading to mud and puddles in the summer and swaths of ice in the winter, which resulted in the company fencing off portions of the schoolyard.
A focus for the board in 2018 will be to strike up more partnerships with other school boards, Draper said. This is partly at the behest of Eggen, who said he expects school boards to find efficiencies by sharing services and buildings to help cut costs.
Edmonton’s public and Catholic school boards have been negotiating a potential shared school busing arrangement for five years. A 2014 estimate said sharing buses could save the boards $2.5 million per year. Edmonton public trustees are eager to ink the agreement. The Edmonton Catholic board — which has five newly elected trustees — will discuss the proposal in January.
Draper would also like to see boards collaborate on joint purchasing, since they’re “all buying the same stuff anyway,” and share more educational resources, like locally developed tests and screening tools.
2017 HIGHLIGHTS
Edmonton public’s biggest accomplishment of the year was opening 11 new public schools, Draper said — the most schools opened at once since 1913. Two of the new buildings weren’t ready in September. Shauna May Seneca School and Kim Hung School students and staff are expected to move into their new homes in January.
Draper is also proud of trustees’ good relationships with each other and with superintendent Darrel Robertson.
“We don’t always agree 100 per cent on everything,” Draper said. “When we’re not unanimous, we’re respectful, and in my mind, we’re keeping the focus on what’s best for kids.”
Edmonton Catholic school board chairman Terry Harris declined a request for a year-end interview.