Wild Rose School Division (WRSD) has submitted a proposal to Alberta Education that would see Lochearn Elementary School and École Rocky Elementary demolished and replaced with a new school.
WRSD Superintendent Brad Volkman says the plan is now officially on the division’s capital plan, but cautions, it could be some time before an answer comes back.
“You can go years before it trickles to the top,” says Volkman. “Right now we know that a lot of people are moving into the province and that’s typically impacting the Edmonton and Calgary school divisions the hardest, so they’ve got a different sort of problem.”
An Aug. 27 report stresses the current baseline for operations is keeping and maintaining all existing facilities in the short-to-mid term. However, it also seeks to determine what best suits the needs of young students in the future.
WRSD officials have been debating the future of education delivery in the community for some time; especially when it comes to the two aging, under-utilized elementary schools.
The report titled Rocky Mountain House Schools Value Management outlines a number of challenges the division is facing.
Among them is declining enrolment. The report shows that only 1,294 out of a maximum 2,400 students are enrolled in five Rocky schools the division oversees.
Thanks in part to dwindling enrolment numbers, the report shows the operation costs of the facilities are above the division average and the facilities are chronically underutilized.
The proposal would see a brand new school constructed, likely at the existing Lochearn site, to accommodate grades K-4. Grade 5 students would move to Pioneer Middle School, while the aging Lochearn Elementary and École Rocky Elementary school buildings would be demolished.
Volkman hopes recent successes in getting David Thompson High School in Leslieville as well as Charlotte Small Elementary School in Condor completed will ‘grease the wheels’ in getting the provincial government to make a favourable decision.
“We said to the government, hey, both schools are in rough shape, they’re getting older, we’ll go from three schools to two schools in that area, so that seemed to get their attention,” says Volkman.
The proposal was also among the most cost-effective solutions coming in around an estimated $27 million. Others, including the modernization of the older schools, were projected to cost as much as $45 million.
Issues identified at École Rocky Elementary during an April 2024 value-scoping session included overdue maintenance to the building, parking issues, lack of natural light, lack of barrier-free access to certain parts of the building, as well as a low utilization rate of 47 per cent.
Located near Rocky’s downtown core, the elementary school was completed in 1948, with seven renovation projects completed between 1950 and 2006. A 2010 assessment of the building’s condition listed it as ‘fair.’
Other options involved modernizing the 65-year-old Lochearn, but were not as well received by delegates. All options involved the eventual demolition of École Rocky Elementary.
A value-scoping report of Lochearn Elementary School showed similar issues, however, the facility was in slightly better shape than the older school with a utilization rate of 75 per cent.
Volkman says low utilization rates are an occurrence that can plague rural schools.
“We have about 600-700 less students than we did say 10 to 15 years ago,” says Volkman. “In the rural areas, sometimes that’s happening, where more and more people, and young people are being attracted to the larger centres.”
The newer Pioneer Middle School and West Central High School buildings were also assessed showing a utilization rate of 57 per cent and 64 per cent, respectively.
You can read the entire value management report here.
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