Penhold’s high school students will remain a little closer to home in 2014; while three Innisfail schools will gain some much needed space through a modernization announced by the Alberta government last week.
Plans for Penhold’s first high school, as well as the modernization and expansion of Innisfail’s École John Wilson Elementary School (JWES), St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic School and Innisfail Junior Senior High School (IHS) were officially unveiled by Education Minister Dave Hancock and Infrastructure Minister Ray Danyluk during a press conference at Hunting Hills High School in Red Deer on May 26. Premier Ed Stelmach announced a total of $550 million in new spending to build or modernize 35 schools across the province on May 24. The new projects will help deal with a student population that is expected to grow by 100,000 students before 2020.
Penhold’s proposed high school will be built next door to the community’s multiplex on a site that is already set for development. Construction will take approximately three years.
Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Luke Ouellette said the new school will be an added selling feature for the community and will help eliminate some of the issues inherent with bussing the community’s high school students into Red Deer.
“It’ll be way more central,” he said following the press conference. “It’ll be easier to bus them – they won’t have to come into the city.”
Chinook’s Edge chairwoman Colleen Butler said the new school would be a fantastic facility once it is completed in 2014.
“The Town of Penhold is excited, Chinook’s Edge is excited - it’ll be great,” she said. “Having it right beside the multiplex is going to be huge for our students.”
Penhold Mayor Dennis Cooper said he pleased local high school students would soon remain in the community.
“The new high school is just great news and we are really appreciative of the MLA’s hard work in getting this moving for us,” said Cooper.
Butler said St. Marguerite would gain a library, gym, and additional classroom space, while JWES will gain new classrooms and a gym that will be contained within an expansion that will link it to the Innisfail Middle School (IMS).
Red Deer Catholic Regional School Division chairwoman Adriana La Grange said the partnership with Chinook’s Edge has allowed the two boards to address common issues together.
“It’s been a very good process,” La Grange said. “It’s improved the relationships between the two boards, the two districts. I just see it as a positive win-win.”
Butler said there was a need to free up space for both schools.
“It’s a great move, and it’s always good when you can collaborate with another jurisdiction,” she said.
Butler gave much of the credit for the expansion to Ouellette, saying he had been supportive through the entire process.
IHS will see the construction of a new state-of-the-art three-station gymnasium, as well as the renovation and expansion of classroom space.
Ouellette said IHS’s gymnasium was “substandard” and needed to be replaced. The new gym will benefit the high school students and the community at large, he added, thanking the community, the Town of Innisfail, and Red Deer County for supporting the project. It may also delay the need for a community centre as well, he said.
“We’re satisfying a lot of needs with one project and not a really expensive project – a well priced project.”
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La Grange said more consultation is required before construction can begin, though students and staff at St. Marguerite’s were looking forward to having additional space after years with cramped quarters.
“We know where we’re heading, just not when we’re going to get there.”
Penhold’s high school students will remain a little closer to home in 2014; while three Innisfail schools will gain some much needed space through a modernization announced by the Alberta government last week.
Plans for Penhold’s first high school, as well as the modernization and expansion of Innisfail’s École John Wilson Elementary School (JWES), St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic School and Innisfail Junior Senior High School (IHS) were officially unveiled by Education Minister Dave Hancock and Infrastructure Minister Ray Danyluk during a press conference at Hunting Hills High School in Red Deer on May 26. Premier Ed Stelmach announced a total of $550 million in new spending to build or modernize 35 schools across the province on May 24. The new projects will help deal with a student population that is expected to grow by 100,000 students before 2020.
Penhold’s proposed high school will be built next door to the community’s multiplex on a site that is already set for development. Construction will take approximately three years.
Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Luke Ouellette said the new school will be an added selling feature for the community and will help eliminate some of the issues inherent with bussing the community’s high school students into Red Deer.
“It’ll be way more central,” he said following the press conference. “It’ll be easier to bus them – they won’t have to come into the city.”
Chinook’s Edge chairwoman Colleen Butler said the new school would be a fantastic facility once it is completed in 2014.
“The Town of Penhold is excited, Chinook’s Edge is excited - it’ll be great,” she said. “Having it right beside the multiplex is going to be huge for our students.”
Penhold Mayor Dennis Cooper said he pleased local high school students would remain in the community starting in 2014.
“The new high school is just great news and we are really appreciative of the MLA’s hard work in getting this moving for us,” said Cooper.
Butler said St. Marguerite would gain a library, gym, and additional classroom space, while JWES will gain new classrooms and a gym that will be contained within an expansion that will link it to the Innisfail Middle School (IMS).
Red Deer Catholic Regional School Division chairwoman Adriana La Grange said the partnership with Chinook’s Edge has allowed the two boards to address common issues together.
“It’s been a very good process,” La Grange said. “It’s improved the relationships between the two boards, the two districts. I just see it as a positive win-win.”
“This was a real need for us to be able to allow the Red Deer Catholic students to have more space and then for us to have more space,” Butler said. “It’s a great move, and it’s always good when you can collaborate with another jurisdiction.”
Butler gave much of the credit for the expansion to Ouellette, saying he had been supportive through the entire process.
IHS will see the construction of a new state-of-the-art three-station gymnasium, as well as the renovation and expansion of classroom space.
Ouellette said IHS’s gymnasium was “substandard” and needed to be replaced. The new gym will benefit the high school students and the community at large, he added, thanking the community, the Town of Innisfail, and Red Deer County for supporting the project
“It may save having to raise money to build a community centre right away because we’ll have that also,” he said. “We’re satisfying a lot of needs with one project and not a really expensive project – a well priced project.”
La Grange said more consultation is required before construction can begin, though students and staff at St. Marguerite’s were looking forward to having additional space after years with cramped quarters.
“We know where we’re heading, just not when we’re going to get there.”
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Last fall, Chinook’s Edge Board of Education accepted a consultant’s report that recommended building the school in Penhold once government funding had been secured. The multiplex site was selected because it already had utilities, roads and a graded site in place.
