Kent Hehr
Kent Hehr via Facebook
Premier Jim Prentice’s September 22 announcement that the province is building four “starter schools” in Calgary has created more confusion and anger than jubilation. The No. 1 gripe is over what the schools are not — they are not the 50 schools promised by Alison Redford in 2012 nor the 100 Prentice said the province needs during his PC party leadership campaign last month.
“I’m greatly disappointed in the announcement…. To keep up with population growth alone we need 87 new schools. So the 50 schools promised are things that are not nice to have they are things we need to have and to not follow through on that promise and to now offer up something as lame as four starter schools and pretend like this is progress is really to me — it really stretches the bounds of my tolerance” says Liberal education critic Kent Hehr.
As to whether Prentice may announce construction plans for more schools in the near future Hehr does not sound hopeful.
“Bully for him. I’ll believe it when I see it” he says. “In the last provincial election they banged on every door in this province and said we are going to deliver 50 schools…. They didn’t deliver it so frankly what they delivered [in] this last four has been a disgrace.”
Alberta Education press secretary Kathleen Range says the starter schools located in West Springs/Cougar Ridge Saddle Ridge Cranston and Aspen Woods will each accommodate 350 students. They will begin as modular classrooms and offices capable of adding components as needed but without typical gymnasiums or libraries. Range says they will otherwise look like traditional “bricks and mortar” schools. They are expected to open in early 2016.
“It’s important to note that this concept was proposed to government by the CBE as a solution to addressing high-growth enrolment” adds Range.
Though Prentice touted the starter schools as being developed through a “partnership” with the CBE CBE media spokesperson Joanna Anderson says the school board doesn’t know any of the details of the partnership arrangement. “We just received the announcement yesterday and need to study it in detail” she adds.
