The hot-button issue of which Cochrane students will learn at the vacant school on Powell Street next fall was a delegation item at the March 23 Rocky View Schools (RVS) Board of Trustees meeting.
Three weeks after the second public information session about the building’s future utilization was held on March 2, parents and stakeholders had the opportunity that Thursday morning to speak their piece about the five scenarios RVS has put forward to determine how to integrate the recently re-acquired building that used to house Holy Spirit School into the Cochrane public school system.
Holy Spirit School offered elementary-school classes to Catholic students in Cochrane at the 128 Powell Street facility for nearly 30 years. Last September, Holy Spirit’s approximately 300 students moved into a larger and more modern building in Fireside.
RVS re-acquired the now-vacant Powell Street school building from the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) last November, with the goal of rejuvenating the facility so it can once again host classes in the future. Afterwards, RVS came up with five potential scenarios to relocate students from other schools there, as a temporary solution to ease congestion in a few of the town’s most crowded public schools.
The first scenario (Option 1) included having all of Cochrane’s public kindergarten to Grade 4 students who live east of Highway 22 and south of the Bow River move into the Powell Street school next September.
Option 2 would see all of Cochrane’s K-4 French immersion students attend the school next fall. In addition, Glenbow and Elizabeth Barrett elementary schools would become K-5 schools, while Mitford and Manachaban middle schools would offer Grade 6-8 English-taught classes, and Manachaban would maintain a Grade 5-8 French immersion program.
The third scenario (Option 3) would be for K-5 English students in the neighbourhoods of Heartland and East End to attend the Powell Street school. At the same time, Elizabeth Barrett and Glenbow would offer K-5 English and French Immersion classes, while Mitford and Manachaban would offer classes for students in grades 6-8.
RVS' fourth and fifth scenarios involved Cochrane Christian Academy (CCA). Option 4 proposed that CCA becomes a “dual campus,” with K-5 Christian students attending the Powell Street school, and Grade 6-8 students continuing to attend classes at their current space, at Mitford School.
In addition, Option 4 put forward that French immersion students from Glenbow would feed into Mitford, and Manachaban would continue as French immersion for Elizabeth Barrett only.
Finally, Option 5 would see all CCA students (K-8) move into the school on Powell Street. Also, French immersion students from Glenbow would feed into Mitford under this scenario while Manachaban would continue as French immersion for Elizabeth Barrett.
During the March 23 board meeting, two parents of students at Fireside School said they would be worried about the “significant adverse impacts” that would potentially arise by splitting up the student composition of that school, in the event RVS decides to go with one of the first three options.
Fireside parent Allyson Patmore told the trustees she doesn’t want the Fireside School site to be under-utilized, which she claimed would be the case in event of Option 1.
“The Fireside option is the most disruptive of the presented options for a number of reasons,” she said during her delegation. “Notably, other options being considered – including the movement of French immersion or Cochrane Christian Academy students to Powell Street – are options where the students are already being bussed out of their home communities and traditional catchment areas to a centralized school. [That is] in contrast to in Fireside, where you have many families – ours included – [who bought their home] due to access to the school.
“The first option will separate siblings and friendships and a full cohort of students will be split based on which side of the highway they’re on.”
As evidence she is not the only parent who feels that way, Patmore claimed she circulated a petition in Fireside that garnered nearly 1,000 signatures from families who hope to keep current Fireside students together.
“I spoke to many concerned neighbours and community members who spoke about the very real concerns that splitting the school would have on their [kids'] mental health,” she said. “The last few years have taken a toll, and every effort should be taken to protect and preserve as much unity and community as possible.
“It’s very challenging to establish an amazing culture at a school, and as you of course know, it’s incredibly important for students to feel connected for overall student success.”
Patmore wrapped up her delegation by arguing the fifth option would present the most ideal scenario, as it would keep the communities of their schools intact and would allow Cochrane Christian Academy students to “take ownership of their new space.”
“If the rationale behind including the Fireside School option [among your possibilities] was to rattle our community awake to the school capacity challenges created by our growing communities, your message has been received,” she said at the end of her presentation. “I’m confident a sleeping giant has been awakened.”
Another Fireside-area parent, Garima Sharma, spoke on behalf of families who live east of Highway 22 on March 23. She echoed many of Patmore’s comments about the impacts of potentially separating friends and siblings of Fireside-area students.
“By moving K-4 students to Powell Street, you’ll not only be separating friends, but you’ll also be separating siblings,” she argued to the board, suggesting like Patmore that RVS’ fourth or fifth scenarios would be the most ideal.
But Jason Kersey, a parent of children who attend Cochrane Christian Academy, disagreed slightly with the other two speakers, adding that neither of the last two presented options would suit the current school culture of the Christian academy. Option 4 in particular, Kersey argued, presented some “serious concerns” to CCA parents, as cleaving the grade configuration in two would negatively impact the school’s culture.
And the reason moving all of CCA into the Powell Street location (Option 5) also isn’t ideal, Kersey argued, is that the Powell Street building is set up for younger grades, which would hinder the ability to offer middle-school-level classes, programming, and sports offerings to the older students.
“Powell Street is set up as a K-4 and if forced, we’d be looking to try to make it work for our older kids,” he said. “Despite the extreme stresses this would put on the school and administration, and not to mention setting up our middle-schoolers for serious difficulty and hardship, we feel staying together as a K-8 is more important. Our community and culture rely on that.”
Kersey said he’d prefer to see options 2 or 3 implemented by RVS, as they would maintain school communities and “alleviate enough stress on the schools to determine better long-term solutions” down the road.
“These options allow for not only an appropriate but an effective use of space,” he said. “They allow for consistent programming that won’t be altered and will create some growing pains, but on reflection, allow for communities to be maintained.”
RVS will tentatively announce its decision regarding the utilization of the Powell Street school on April 27, according to the public school division's website.