Alberta education minister says more classrooms coming to Airdrie

Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said Thursday more modular classrooms will be delivered to Airdrie, Alta., in response to a classroom crunch. (File)

Alberta Education announced Thursday it will provide more modular classrooms for schools in need in Airdrie.

In a statement, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said he’s spoken with the UCP MLA for Airdrie-East, Angela Pitt, about the issue of classroom space for the community.

He said work is underway to secure more modular classrooms for schools in Airdrie and the Rocky View School Division.

“We are delivering more modular classrooms to areas and school boards that are seeing fast growth in their student population,” Nicolaides said Thursday.

“This is part of the $8.6 billion we are investing to build or renovate more than 100 schools across the province, including eight school projects in the Rocky View School District.”

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This week, the administration of one Airdrie school, École Edwards Elementary, wrote in a letter to parents that the school would be converting its library, music room and wellness centre into classroom spaces to accommodate for new students.

Staff said the school, which currently has 675 students enrolled, would see that number increase to about 850 in September, due to school boundary changes and rapid growth.

As a result, the existing library would be moved to a smaller space and other books would be distributed among classrooms and other areas of the school.

Pitt wrote on social media Thursday that she reached out to Nicolaides’ office after hearing from so many concerned parents about the issue.

“I have some important news to share regarding modulars to help ease the burden on school space for our kids,” Pitt said.

“I have spoken with the minister of education and he has confirmed the fast tracking of an additional allocation to Airdrie schools.”

RVS focused on pressures in schools

RVS, in a statement Thursday, said the promise of more modular classrooms for Airdrie raises hope that some of the challenges in the community will be addressed.

“RVS values the government’s commitment to help address overcrowded schools in our rapidly growing communities and the seven new school projects approved for our division in Budget 2024 and 2025,“ said board chair Fiona Gilbert.

“Recognizing it takes two to three years to build a school, RVS needs additional modular classrooms to help relieve pressures in our schools while we wait for these projects to progress.”

Alberta Education did not share any details about how many modular classrooms were coming to Airdrie or which schools would be receiving them.

No timeline was provided either.