Thousands of Catholic school students in Red Deer, Sylvan Lake and Blackfalds started another school year Thursday – with many returning to classrooms that are approaching capacity.
With 593 students and still growing, St. Thomas Aquinas Middle School in Red Deer is getting very full, said principal Ryan Sawula. “We’re using every possible space to teach — even the library is being used as a classroom,” he added.
Sawula, whose school has gained 50 students since last year, is excited about the year ahead. So far, he said St. Thomas is managing without portables.
But the question of a future space crunch was raised last spring by Catholic board chair Anne Marie Watson.
If another Catholic middle school was able to open today, “we could fill it,” stated Watson in reaction to the 2018 provincial budget, which contained neither the proposed middle school nor a K-5 school that the Catholic district wants to construct.
Although final student enrolment numbers won’t be known until the end of September, the Catholic division had 10,219 students last fall, and the number is expected to increase significantly.
As a result, 109 new staff members were hired this fall, including 39 new teachers, said Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools spokesperson Haleigh Packer.
The district operates 21 schools in six Central Alberta communities, including Innisfail, Olds and Rocky Mountain House, which start classes Tuesday — the same day as public schools — because of joint busing programs.
New capital projects happening this year include a modernization and expansion at St. Patrick’s Community School in Red Deer. Packer said the main washrooms were already renovated for students, but work is continuing on an expansion as the new school year begins.
Modular classrooms are being added this fall to Father Henri Voisin School in Red Deer, Our Lady of the Rosary School in Sylvan Lake, Holy Trinity School in Olds, and St. Matthew School in Rocky Mountain House. Once the City of Red Deer vacates the Cultural Services Building on 39th Street next spring, the Catholic district will turn the building into a centre for the district’s administrative offices.
Sawula sees many “exciting” firsts for his school, including the implementation of school talking circles and a restorative justice system that will teach students how to make up to people they have wronged.
Sawula said St. Thomas Aquinas is also starting a “middle school baseball academy” that will team his students with high school baseball players and coaches. “It’s kind of like a feeder program.”
Grade 8 students Kaitlin Deagle and Lucy Noble, who were setting up their lockers on Thursday, are looking forward to new learning and a chance to hang out with friends they haven’t seen all summer.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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