Cramped classrooms, crowded hallways and surging enrolment at Notre Dame High School have pushed the need for a new city high school to the top of the Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools’ capital plan.
Built in the southeast Lancaster neighbourhood in 1996, Notre Dame was designed for an original capacity of 845 students and support spaces including the hallways, gathering area and computer labs for 1,245 students.
Steady increases in student enrolment in just five years forced the district to add 16 classrooms in 2001 and four modulars in 2009, bringing the student capacity up to 1,345.
This year, there are 1,371 students enrolled at the high school.
Ken Jaeger, supervisor of support services for the district, said challenges and issues continue to grow as more classrooms are added to the school but the required support spaces are not.
District administration predicts the student population will reach 1,557 in 2017 and 1,649 by 2022.
“We can just see what is coming from behind with the swell of students in our middle schools and the growing numbers in our elementary,” said Adriana LaGrange, trustee board chairperson.
“All of that is going to cause an influx of even greater numbers into our high school. Right now we are managing but if the numbers continue, which we know they will, we will desperately need a new high school.”
Two modulars will be added to the site by September, bringing the total to six. A request to the province for a seventh is in the works.
On Tuesday night, the board of trustees approved its revised 2012-2015 capital plan outlining its new construction/additions, modernization and modular classroom needs.
The new high school replaces the previous top request for a kindergarten to Grade 5 school in Red Deer. Last May, the province gave the go-ahead for the new elementary school, Father Henry Voisin School, in Clearview Ridge in Red Deer.
A five-classroom addition to handle the steady growth at St. Francis Assisi Middle School is the district’s second priority.
“We had a 4.8 per cent increase overall in our division last year,” said LaGrange.
“Again there’s the demand . . . Henry Voisin is an elementary school so that will probably increase the numbers going into our middle schools as well. We’re just blessed our numbers keep growing and people see the value of faith-based education.”
Modernization of St. Patrick’s Community School is the board’s third priority. This would address a space crunch and deal with minor mechanical and electrical issues.
A new school in Blackfalds is the district’s fourth priority.
The right-sizing and modernization of St. Matthew School in Rocky Mountain House rounds out the top five priorities that will be submitted to Alberta Education by the end of March.
The board has also requested a four-modular classroom addition to Our Lady of the Rosary School in Sylvan Lake and another at Holy Trinity School in Olds to address the continued growth.
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com