In a recent closed session, the Chinook's Edge School Board and MLAs Kerry Towle and Joe Anglin addressed issues affecting the school board.In what is referred to as Proactively Building Schools, Kurt Sacher, Chinook's Edge Superintendent and the board addressed the importance of looking at the future of the community where the school is located and the surrounding area to avoid school capacity issues.He says the board hopes that the government will look at the bigger picture and prevent running into problems that new schools in areas like Carstairs and Airdrie have. Both communities have schools that are reaching capacity within a few years of construction.The Carstairs Elementary School is only two-and-a-half years old, it is already 10 per cent overcapacity, and could get worse if present population trends continue. Bill MacFarquhar, the trustee for the Carstairs-Cremona division estimates Carstairs could need a second elementary school in as little as five years.Sacher says future growth trends and enrolment trends should be looked at when building schools. “The way the government typically builds schools, is that they are built to house for today, they're not always looking into the future.”“When the government makes those infrastructure decisions we'd like them to look further down the road so we don't find ourselves in the same position, where we have a new school already at capacity.”As part of ongoing tripartite discussions, the Chinook's Edge board took the opportunity of the meeting to advocate for the government to continue to fully fund inclusion programming.“We stand to lose in the neighbourhood of $1.2 million that we are currently using in the area of inclusion,” says Sacher. Inclusion programming is a concept that sees the programs within the Chinook's Edge School Division suitable for students with barriers using assistant teachers and technology. He says the board will have to do course corrections for the 2013-2014 school year to make up for the loss, adding that the cut in funding will likely result in staff cuts to teachers and assistants who work with students with special educational needs.“The students who need it most stand to lose funding and the board is very concerned about the impact it will have.”But Sacher says the board will still support those students, despite less resources. “We can't deliver to the degree that we could in the past but we will still do our best to serve all of our students.”In October, the government of Alberta, the Alberta School Boards Association and the Alberta Teachers' Association agreed to continue tripartite discussions beyond their self-imposed deadline of Oct, 31, 2012.Sacher says that the Chinook's Edge school board is supportive of the province coming up with a way to resolve the current challenges.“We advocated strongly that we would like to see government step up and resolve the challenges and provide a settlement that is fair for teachers across the division.”He says a more long-term agreement would be beneficial to everyone involved.“A five-year, long-term agreement with teachers that results in labour peace means we can focus on learning environments.”
