Thirteen new schools in Alberta — including four in Central Alberta — will be constructed under one tender.
Construction on the local schools — three in Red Deer and one in Penhold — is expected to begin by next spring and they are to open by September 2014.
Some details for the four schools, including a tentative timeline, were established by Alberta Infrastructure and Alberta Education at a meeting with the Red Deer Public Schools, Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools, Chinook’s Edge School Division and Greater North Francophone Education Region.
The boards were told the new Central Alberta schools along with nine others from Edmonton to Medicine Hat will be bundled and constructed together using a public-private partnership (P3) format.
The requests for proposals for architects will be sent out in the next few months with a September target to begin the design process.
The Red Deer Public School board of trustees was concerned initially that the division’s new school would not be available for community use outside of school hours. Board chairman Lawrence Lee said in the past a lot of the P3 projects had restrictions on use outside of school hours. The board is pleased to hear they can continue the after-hours community use.
“The bottom line is we are extremely happy in this climate to get the schools that we are getting,” said Lee. “At the end of the day, it is all about having spaces for those kids and those students. We’re fortunate we just have to deal with the provincial situation as it stands. In different climates, different things have to happen.”
The two provincial departments have said building the schools either through a combination of P3s and regional bundles will save money and allow the projects to be completely faster than would be possible in a traditional build.
The southeast site for Red Deer Public’s new kindergarten to Grade 5 school will be named in August. Red Deer Catholic has already named its new kindergarten to Grade 5 school, Father Henri Voisin School, in the Clearview North neighbourhood.
Like Lee, the Catholic jurisdiction had questions about school upkeep. Under the P3 format, a maintenance company will have a 30-year contract to maintain the school. Previously school divisions would fix and maintain their own schools.
“At the end of the day, we are going to have new schools that are going to operate very similar to what our schools have here,” said Ken Jaeger, supervisor of support services for the Catholic jurisdiction. “Teachers are not restricted. Teachers can go in as they need to teach.”
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com