Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools has received full construction funding from the provincial government for a new kindergarten to Grade 5 school in Blackfalds.
On Thursday, Red Deer-North MLA and Minister of Education announced the funding during an event at St. Gregory the Great Catholic School, another Red Deer Catholic school in Blackfalds.
“The full construction funding for the new kindergarten to Grade 5 school in the vibrant growing community of Blackfalds marks a significant milestone in our government’s commitment to providing state-of-the-art education infrastructure for our communities,” LaGrange said.
“This investment illustrates our dedication to meeting the evolving needs of our students and ensuring they have access to modern, innovative learning environments.”
RDCRS received design funding from the Government of Alberta in March 2023. Work is ongoing between Alberta Infrastructure and the Town of Blackfalds to ensure the land in the new development is secured. The new school is expected to be ready for occupancy in September 2027.
St. Gregory, a kindergarten to Grade 9 school, currently sits at 132 per cent capacity. Murray Hollman, Red Deer Catholic board chair, said this new K-5 school will alleviate pressures caused by overcapacity.
“We’ve been needing a new school and have been looking at this one for the last three or four years,” said Hollman.
“It’s been high on our capital list. It’s great for the community to finally get the announcement of construction dollars. Now it’s just a matter of getting shovels in the ground. We’re well underway with design, which is good.”
In the immediate future, Grade 7-9 students will be bused to St. Lorenzo Ruiz Middle School in north Red Deer.
“When you have a school that’s so full it’s really hard to offer high-quality programming,” said Hollman, adding St. Lorenzo opened this past fall, so there is currently space to fit the students from Blackfalds.
Mayor Jamie Hoover said the new K-5 school is “absolutely a necessity” for the town.
“We’ve been anticipating and pushing for this for years. To hear this finally announced, we can breathe easy,” said Hoover.
The school will be located in the northwest part of the town, Hoover noted.
“We’ve seen preliminary plans for the school,” he said, adding the expectation is the capacity will be around 500 students.
“With a larger capacity, hopefully that’ll sustain the growth in the community for a few years. But I would imagine very quickly that school will be full as well.”
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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