PENHOLD - Penhold's rapid growth is having an impact on education.
The Chinook's Edge School Division (CESD) board recently approved an updated five-year capital plan outlining priorities over the next several years, including two projects for the Town of Penhold.
They include the expansion of Jessie Duncan School and the replacement of the current Penhold Elementary School with a new 500-student capacity replacement school. Sherry Cooper, the school division's trustee for Penhold, made a presentation to town council on March 13 about the capital plan, which is subject to provincial funding.
"Every year we go through a process where the board identifies their top capital priorities and we submit them to Alberta Education," said Kurt Sacher, superintendent of schools.
Sacher noted an extensive study that gathered data from across the division to help the board determine its top priorities.
"Some of (the board's) top priorities were in the communities of Carstairs, Penhold and Sylvan Lake," he said. "For the past few years those communities have been growing significantly."
And there are priority needs for Penhold, he noted.
"Jessie Duncan will become a pre-kindergarten to Grade 2 school next fall," added Sacher, noting four approved portable classrooms will be built there this summer and the board is still looking for an additional four that could potentially keep more students at the school.
"(It would) alleviate pressure at Penhold Elementary School, which will become a Grade 3 to 5 (school). It's currently a 2 to 5 right now," explained Sacher, noting the request for a brand new school in Penhold.
Sacher said every year the board reassesses and updates its priorities and discusses them with Alberta Education.
"They have to assess the need across the province from a priority point of view," he said, pointing out how the priorities will help the town.
"It will help Penhold significantly in a few ways," he said. "First of all at Jessie Duncan it allows them to have another grade level so they keep the kids longer and can have Grade 2 students play more of a leadership role in their development. It also helps significantly at Penhold elementary where they have overcrowding there right now."
Sacher said there has been no talk of costs or allocating funds at this stage.
"We've made the government aware of those priority needs from across the school division and Penhold has to be one of them," he said.
Kurt Sacher, superintendent of schools
"We've made the government aware of those priority needs from across the school division and Penhold has to be one of them."
