St Patrick School (photo by Shaun Penner)

By Liam Verster

Future of St. Patrick school

Decision on St. Patrick school’s future needs to be made on February 18

Feb 12, 2020 | 1:26 PM

The Grande Prairie and District Catholic School Board has just a few days to decide what to do to replace St. Patrick school.

The school was closed in 2017, when it was discovered that serious remediation work was needed on the building. The GPDCS wanted to modernize the building, and reopen it to students, but after tenders came through, it was deemed too expensive, and in January 2020, the Province cancelled the project.

Then, on Thursday February 6, Superintendent Karl Germann met with Alberta Education to discuss options for the future of St. Patrick school. Germann says the discussion went well, and the Province understood that the cost to modernize the school would be nearly the same as the cost of building a new school, and a deal was struck. The GPDCS would be granted $17-million, equivalent to the lowest modernization tender, and decide in their next board meeting between three options:

– Build a 400 student school on existing St. Patrick land for French Immersion

– Build a 400 student school on existing St. Gerard land for French Immersion

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– Use the $17-million to partially modernize the Ecole St. Gerard Modular Classroom wing

The Board also has to choose to either split French Immersion students between Ecole St. Gerard (Grades 4-7 or 8) and St. Patrick (Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 3), or have French Immersion students remain at Ecole St. Gerard (Pre-K to Grade 7 or 8).

Germann says this is good news, because the Province could have cancelled the project all together, but this decision allows for some new school space to be built in the City.

“[The Province] is a little desperate for cash, they’re looking for lots of cash, so this was an opportunity for them to take the money back and not do anything. But instead they said ‘Let’s have a look at using those funds, and try to provide a different opportunity for your school division.'”

Germann says the option to modernize the St.Gerard Modular Classroom wing, which consists of 16 wooden modular or portable classrooms, may be the most practical.

“The key piece about modernizing something like that, and taking off the modulars, is that you would get a lot of other spaces. So currently, we have 16 classrooms and no additional spaces, if we were to modernize it, we would get 16 classrooms plus a gymnasium, plus another career technology space. So it could be something for arts or makers space, or for junior high trades, or it could also be a foods lab.”

He says St. Gerard is one of their two schools that exceed the numbers of portables that should be on the property. The other is Mother Teresa, and both have over 20 portables, but schools shouldn’t have more than eight.

Along with creating a variety of space and replacing the modulars, Germann says there are cost benefits to expanding on a school, rather than building a brand new one.

“One of the things that we’re suggesting is that we try to have fewer schools around the city, not that parents will necessarily like that, but it does help us save costs. A school, when you open it, has about an additional million dollars in costs, and by combining schools and making them a little larger, you save that million dollars. Then you can use that money for more staff or more programs or services for kids, or literacy intervention, or whatever it may be.”

He adds Budget 2020 is coming at the end of the month, and expects to see school divisions receiving less funds, so any opportunity to save money could be beneficial.

However, if the expand on St. Gerard instead of building a school for kids near St. Patrick, it will force them to have to go to Kateri or Mother Teresa for French Immersion school. The Board will also be deciding at their meeting to designate O’Brien Lake West as an English school for students living in the O’Brien Lake, Pinnacle, West Point and possibly Kensington neighbourhoods.

Germann says they can’t have it both ways, and will have to make a decision that seems best for the kids in the community.

The Board will debate the options and make a final decision at their meeting on Tuesday, February 18. They will then take that information to the Province for final approval. The Board is welcoming public opinion on the matter, to find the best option for the kids in the community.

“Parents are welcome to submit information to us [via email at cec@gpcsd.ca]. Parents can also be on a delegation, they can present their opinion in five-minutes, and the board will take all those opinions [into consideration] and make a decision on Tuesday.”

People who wish to make a presentation as part of the delegation need to make a request to be added to the agenda by Friday, February 14.

He says they only have a small window of time to make the decision, otherwise the Province will take the money back and put it into provincial revenues. Germann says they want to take that money and make sure it will be used for a project in the community before the new budget comes out.