At the Oct. 16 Rocky View Schools (RVS) board of trustees meeting the Board unanimously approved the use of up to $300,000 from the cash-in-lieu account to prepare a 45-acre site in the south-west portion of Langdon for a future high school and Rocky View County (RVC) recreation facility.
Associate Superintendent of Business and Operations Darrell Couture said the site, which was jointly purchased in March 2006 with RVC, has numerous pockets of wetlands which need to be removed before the site design can begin. No timeframe was given for the project.
“We’re in the driver’s seat in terms of getting this site ready,” said RVS Trustee Bev LePeare. “We need to get this moving forward so we can eventually get the site ready and build a school on there.”
The RVS share of the wetland compensation is estimated at $130,000 and the cost for numerous studies and the Transportation Levy of RVC total approximately $170,000.
“I think this is an excellent example of the relationship the school board has with Rocky View County,” RVS Trustee Norma Lang said.
“I’m proud to be a part of the project. I’m proud to be a part of the collaboration.”
“This is the best example of how (cash-in-lieu) should be used,” said RVS Trustee Sylvia Eggerer.
RVS Board Chair Colleen Munro said joint projects like this are what the public is asking for.
“This takes planning and work between government at the municipal levels but it’s really worth while,” she said. “To be able to put a recreation centre attached to a new high school is not only a win for (RVS) but a win for the Langdon community too.”
Enrolment summary
The final results are in for Sept. 30 Enrolment Summary and the division has grown by nearly six per cent this year.
RVS Superintendent of Schools Don Hoium said the six per cent growth rate is the highest in the province.
The Division saw 1,116 new students enroll in RVS schools this year, bringing the total number of RVS students to 20,593.
Chestermere saw an addition of 341 students to the region, an increase of 8.4 per cent.
The Cochrane, Westbrook and Bearspaw area is up 4.4 per cent with an additional 191 students, and the Beiseker /Kathyrn area is up 3.7 per cent with 19 new students.
The only RVS area in the county that saw a decrease in students was Crossfield who was down 45 students, or 7.4 per cent.
Emergency closure
Though the second reading of the Emergency Closure of Facilities and Cancellation of Bus Services resulted in the policy being returned to the Policy Development Committee for revisions, the Board did agree to instruct Hoium to communicate to schools and parents the decision to close a school due to inclement weather will be made at 5:30 a.m. and will be communicated to the public at 6 a.m. despite weather changes that may occur in that half-an-hour.
“The intent was that parents know a decision was made at 5:30 a.m. and if the weather changes the decision was already made,” said RVS Trustee Bev LePeare.
The policy was sent back for revision because trustees felt the document should be reworded and re-titled to say emergency closure of schools and student programs at offsite instead of just facilities.
The policy is scheduled to come back to the Board at the Nov. 20 meeting.
