The public and separate school boards in Okotoks announced last week they are looking forward to working with the Town to determine school sites at potential new subdivisions in the community.
Representatives from Foothills and Christ the Redeemer School divisions have met with Town representatives along with the developer of the D’Arcy and Wedderburn parcels recently regarding potential school sites.
“We are really pleased the Town has got us in on the ground floor and is responsive to the need to having the sites dedicated (for schools) early,” said CTR-Catholic superintendent of schools Scott Morrison.
The Wedderburn lands, an undeveloped quarter-section of land located in north Okotoks on the east side of Northridge Drive across from Okotoks Honda. The 272-acre D’Arcy development is located near the scenic 18-hole D’Arcy Ranch Golf Course (the course will remain).
CTR-Catholic, is hoping to have a K-9 school in Okotoks in the northern portion of the town in the future. The division’s Okotoks schools will be relieved of some of their enrolment pressure in the fall of 2016 when a K-9 school opens in the Davisburg area.
He said the division working with the Town and developer United Communities to find school sites is solid long-range planning, especially in light of CTR-Catholic getting the Davisburg school and Foothills’ getting word recently for a new high school in Aldersyde.
“If we plan for the future now then we will be more likely to get a school if we have a site pre-dedicated when the numbers come in to make it warranted – we aren’t there now,” Morrison said. “Both us and Foothills just got new schools, but we will be there (in need) in a few years. And if we have the sites sitting there, we become more of an attractive place for Alberta Education to give us a school.”
Any new schools would help get the division’s Okotoks schools back to more manageable numbers.
“I would like to right-size our schools. If we could get another school I would like to make Good Shepherd (a K to 6) have the number of students it should,” Morrison said. “It’s not just about handling our growth, we would like to have our kids be in facilities that were built for the number of students that were supposed to go in them – with the gyms, the libraries and all the amenities.”
Good Shepherd School, located in the Tower Hill area, currently has its kindergarten students attending schools in portables at the Grade 10-12 Holy Trinity Academy.
Foothills School Division superintendent of schools John Bailey said it is also pleased to be working with Okotoks for future school sites.
“In discussions with Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools, we share concerns about the lack of available sites in Okotoks, so they (the Town of Okotoks) invited both school boards with a meeting of the developer of the lands – and that was great,” Bailey said. “It was all about making sure the school boards have the opportunity to meet the developer early in the process and let them know of our urgent need for school sites.
“We just want to thank the Town for their participation and setting it up for us.”
He said the work on establishing school sites in D’Arcy and Wedderburn areas will not impact plans to proceed with the new high school near the Regional Legacy Field House.
“I don’t think so, because the Town is telling us it’s about five years out before the D’Arcy lands to have a site available,” he said.
In an interview last month, Okotoks Mayor Bill Robertson said it is possible to have schools built in an area before there are homes in the area.
That was the case when Holy Trinity Academy’s first home – now St. John Paul II Collegiate – was built in the 1994.
