Edmonton Public seeks input on new school in a mature neighborhood

CTV Edmonton: EPSB may consolidate schools Three Edmonton Public schools may soon close, with students combined to one new building – a plan being considered in older neighbourhoods.

The Edmonton Public School Board is considering a plan that would see low enrolment schools consolidated into a brand new K-9 school building. While several areas are being considered at this time, only one new school will be built.

In the Greater Highlands area, Highlands, Montrose and Mount Royal schools would be consolidated, Lawton, R.J. Scott, and Rundle in the Greater Lawton area, and Westmount, Coronation and Inglewood would be grouped together in the Greater Westmount area. The board says that Westglen in the Westmount area and Virginia Park in the Highlands area could also be consolidated, depending on the wishes of the community.

“We are very excited about this opportunity to reinvest in a mature neighbourhood,” Board Chair Sarah Hoffman said in a written release. “Students, parents and the community will benefit with the addition of a state-of-the-art school that will serve the area for years to come.”

In addition to low enrolment, many of the school building have aging infrastructure, which would be costly for the board to upgrade or replace.

“We do have a significant infrastructure deficit. It’s already over a quarter of a billion dollars and projected to be a billion dollars in 2025.” Hoffman said.

The board will hold three rounds of public meetings in each area will be held over the next three months, as well as consulting groups like YMCA, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and others. An online survey will also be conducted. But some parents are already raising concerns about the proposal.

“I dont want to send him on a bus, that was kind of the whole reason we chose the community.” Parent Rose Pink told CTV on Wednesday.

“Our plan is have existing schools in the selected community to remain open until the replacement school is completed, two years from now, in 2016,” Darrel Robertson, Superintendent of Schools says. “Once the new school is completed, existing school facilities in the chosen area will be looked at for potential community-use.”

The board has until the end of June to make a decision, under a government mandate that stated that one new school would be built in a mature neighbourhood. They will present their findings to the Board of Trustees on June 24th.

The new school is expected to cost about $20 million.

The move is not dissimilar to a plan put forward by the Edmonton Catholic School Board, which is considering consolidating St. Kevin, St. Gabriel, St. James and St. Brendan school into a new K-9 facility build on the St. Brendan School land. A decision on that proposal is expected in the next few weeks.

With files from Ashley Molnar