Construction on a new school in Penhold must begin by next summer if it’s to open on time, said Superintendent Kurt Sacher from Chinook’s Edge School Division Tuesday.
“If we’re not putting shovels in the ground by next summer we’ll be behind,” said Sacher to council last week.
He was with Ray Hoppins, associate superintendent and Sherry Cooper, school trustee for Ward 2, to discuss the division’s plans to open the school for Sept. 2014.
The long-term plan for the new school is to house Grades 7 to 12 students. But Sacher warned, it could be too early for that yet.
“ … If we look at some of the feeder grades the numbers are in the 30s. If they go into the high school grades, there’s a bit of concern about viability, at least right out of the gate,” he said, explaining 75 students per grade level is required to provide a healthy level of programming at the high school level.
“You might be able to stretch it at 60 but when you’re at 30 per grade level it becomes challenging,” he said, from both a programming and financial point of view.
“We have a number of small high schools and they carry with them some additional costs.”
He said one possibility is phasing the grades in over the course of a few years, starting with grades 6 to 9 until there’s enough of a population to allow for older grades. In the meantime, Jessie Duncan and Penhold School would still be used —possibly Duncan as K to Grade 2 with Penhold as Grades 3 to 5.
“Jessie Duncan is already growing at a wonderful rate. We may not be able to accommodate Grade 3 as early as next year, so it will be K to 3 so the older Penhold School could be 3 to 5 and the new school 6 to 9. That’s if the numbers aren’t there. If the numbers are there, it’s easy.”
Hoppins has started phone interviews to 200 families within Chinook’s Edge School Division in and around Penhold to see if there’s interest in the new school. So far, the results have been favourable.
“We hope with the new school we’ll see some of the ones we’ve lost to the Catholic school system will turn around and come back,” he said when questioned by Rick Binnendyk, CAO, about the trend for Penhold School grads to enrol in the Catholic school and attend school in Red Deer.
“We’re also looking at boundaries. There’s parents looking out their back window and see Jessie Duncan and yet they’re getting bussed to Innisfail. So we’re seeing this whole transition as an opportunity to re-evaluate attendance boundaries and possibly move south a little bit and capture some more students into the Penhold capture area.”
He said survey results are still in the early stage and things can still change. “So many different communities are impacted by the board’s decision and the board has to be particularly careful,” he said.
An open house is slated for November 7 at Penhold School.
After the presentation, council moved for a letter to be sent to the division, requesting a liaison from council to be involved in design plans for the school, which will be attached to or adjacent to the Penhold Multiplex.
