OLDS – Chinook’s Edge School Division is looking to Alberta Education to help alleviate capacity pressures at École Olds High School.
During Tuesday’s board of trustees meeting, the board voted in favour of applying for four modular classroom units that would house about 100 students and a washroom unit for the school.
“If the province approves the application it will add needed spaces for students,” the division said in highlighting decisions made during the Oct. 8 meeting.
The utilization rate for the school is high, the division says.
According to projections in the division’s 2024-2027 capital, 741 students are expected to be enrolled at the school in 2024-25, creating a utilization rate of 105 per cent. The utilization rate is projected to increase to 108 per cent in the 2025-26 school year and 110 per cent in the 2026-27 school year.
The town continues to see steady population growth. Over a 10 year span, the division says the town's population increased by 10 per cent to 9,577 in 2021.
A new addition to École Olds High School and a new 400-student capacity K-5 elementary school are among the division’s 2024-2027 capital plan priorities.
