Airdrie School information Meeting Tonight

Well tonight we had an information meeting at city hall here in Airdrie. Huge Turnout! There were even politicians although Ed Stelmak though it was fine to miss so he sent his deputy.

We did have a couple of cabinet ministers and a couple of speeches including two stories of how the overcrowding of the schools is really affecting the kids. There was a few questions from concerned parents that went after the Alberta cabinet ministers immediately. But they do deserve it. Alberta government keeps on saying that we have no money but come on where was the money that should have been spent on schools during the oil boom, and by oil boom I mean the last one.

Here in Alberta there is always a boom and bust economy based on oil prices and although there is a bit of a lull right now it is not nearly as bad as some of the other busts that Alberta has had and the schools now are suffering like the government has completely run out of money, what were they doing pissing it away during the boom?

Sorry, I am a bit prone to rants. Anyway the meeting tonight was great. We had TV and other media there covering it and now it is up to parents to take the next step and get the pressure on the government to announce more schools. Airdrie really does need about another four schools in the next couple of years and that is how long it takes to build them. Actually it takes about 4 years to build a school but the Alberta Infrastructure minister Ray Danyluk was saying tonight that they can actually build a school in 20 months instead.

Now we will see what happens. The TV lights and stories go out tomorrow and then unless we as Airdrie parents push things we will not get any schools in Airdrie anytime soon. I am looking forward to seeing what will happen next.

New Airdrie Schools

Chestermere trustee Bev LePeare resurrected a lengthy debate from the last board about amendments to the 2010-2014 capital plan only to lose the vote again.

At the April 15 board meeting, Airdrie trustee Don Thomas garnered support, resulting in a 4-3 vote, to give a new high school in Airdrie priority over a K-9 school in Chestermere for the 2011 budget request from the Province.

LePeare had voted against the change and challenged her colleagues at the May 6 board meeting to reconsider their previous vote back to the original priority list presented by John Wheatley, director of facility planning for Rocky View Schools.

"Chestermere is desperate for the K-9 school. I realize the entire division is in trouble, but we have to go with what the data shows. We as a board can make this right, we can show our public we can right a wrong," said LePeare.

Trustee Thomas repeated points from his original argument that Airdrie has been growing more rapidly than Chestermere.

"Growth in Chestermere has been somewhat slower, but in Airdrie it's been fairly high, which is part of our reason for change," said Thomas. "We want to look at long-range planning and I hope this doesn't pit one community against the other."

All trustees voted the same way as they initially did with Thomas, Jen Avery, Sylvia Eggerer and Helen Clease in favour of prioritizing a high school in Airdrie over Chestermere's K-9 school, while trustees Bruce Pettigrew and Colleen Munro supported LePeare plea against the change.

"We can't look like we keep changing our minds all the time. Our capital plan is a reactionary document," said Clease. "If it was a plan, Cochrane would probably be at the top of our priority list."

Avery pointed out that the capital plan report shows schools in Beiseker, Kathryn and Irricana have a higher priority than Chestermere.

Munro said she would maintain her support for LePeare's motion, but she was certain Rocky View Schools would find a way to take care of all the students in the division.

"I might point out to you Westbrook School is over 100 per cent utilization this year," said Munro.

Airdrie Schools - Are Airdrie Schools Overcrowded?

Rob Anderson is the MLA for the Airdrie and Chestermere riding in Alberta. A little while ago Mr Anderson had an altercation in the Legislature with our current Education minister Dave Hancock.

As everyone in Airdrie is aware, our population is growing rapidly. However, despite unprecedented overspending by the PC Government over the past decade, many of our most basic infrastructure requirements (particularly the need for new schools) have been left largely unaddressed.

The reason for this is simple. Hundreds of millions dollars have been doled out based on politics rather than on the objective needs of communities. An egregious example of this was the 2008 election announcement of 32 new schools to be built across the province. Although many of the sites chosen were necessary, many of the new schools were announced in areas where the PCs were worried about shoring up support for the 2008 election. Because of this, Airdrie, the fastest growing city in the province, was left without even 1 of the 32 announced schools.

Furthermore, despite repeated requests by me for the Government’s lists of priority capital projects and the criteria used to arrive at that priority (something I asked for while in government and now in opposition), the PCs continue to refuse to publicly release such information.

Last week, I confronted the Minister of Education, Dave Hancock, on this issue:

Mr. Anderson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Rocky View school division and especially the city of Airdrie are at a crisis point with regards to school infrastructure. Airdrie students are holding classes in the library, the gym, and in some instances in the hallways. Trustees are even considering bussing kids into soon-to-be-closed inner city Calgary schools. The division is now begging for $5 million for 20 new portables to make a secondary temporary portable school in Airdrie. To the Education Minister, would you please reallocate just one of the 32 newly announced P3 schools to Airdrie, the fastest growing city in the province?

Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, with respect to the P3 program, that’s a process that takes a significant amount of time to put together. It is at its final stages, and announcements will be made soon. The school division that the member has referred to has a school in that project. Their top priority school is going to be built at Langdon, as they asked.

Mr. Anderson: That is completely out of touch with reality - you need to get your facts straight. Given that since 2005 Edmonton public schools have decreased in student population by 1,000 yet has received 10 new schools and given that during that same time Calgary received six new Catholic schools yet their Catholic student population went down by 700 students, why wouldn’t Airdrie get another school when their student population has risen by 1,500 students since 2005, yet they’ve received only one Public school and one Catholic school in that time?

Mr. Hancock: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s a very complex process of determining priorities for building schools. Unfortunately, in this year I didn’t have additional capital dollars to build new schools.

Mr. Anderson: Thirty-two schools, if they’re built in the right place is all that is needed. Given that Rocky View is projected to add 3,000 additional students in the next three years, most of them in Airdrie, and given that Airdrie’s projected population will be 70,000 people by 2025, will the Minister commit to come to the table with the local Rocky View trustees to discuss a short-term and long-term strategy for solving what will shortly become an emergency if you don’t take action?

Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, finally, a reasonable question. Absolutely. That’s my job, to work with Rocky View and work with every other school board to try to deal with the issues that they have. In fact, there are solutions for Rocky View that we’re working on, and I believe that we’ll be able to accomplish some great progress in that area.

So do we have a problem or not? It looks like the government and especially the education minister are doing their best to avoid an embarrassing problem