The Airdrie Chamber of Commerce is fed up with the lack of schools within the city and wants an immediate change.
Past President Mike Brandrick sent an email to fellow Chamber members last week encouraging them to draft letters, voicing their displeasure on behalf of businesses to government officials.
Airdrie schools comprise 37 per cent of Rocky View School Division’s student population, according to Brandrick.
“If we’re trying to attract people to Airdrie, they’re going to look at what’s in place not only as a business, but as a place to live,” said Mike De Bokx, current Chamber president.
The lack of schools and existing teaching space will deter people from moving to Airdrie and that will ultimately hurt the business community, he said.
Vice president of the Chamber Lisa Wine has two children in Rocky View Schools and she runs her own business.
Her family moved out to Airdrie 10 years ago so her children could avoid 30-minute bus rides to school in Calgary.
“Schools were a major reason when we moved here in 2000,” she said.
The situation was good for a while, but now, the school debacle seems to mirror Calgary’s situation.
“Now, the same thing is happening in Airdrie (as Calgary),” said Wine, who owns Sign Concepts Ltd.
A mutual friend of Wine’s said she was thinking of moving to Airdrie but was warned of the City’s lack of school space.
“I think it will affect the business community because families will start moving out,” said Wine.
Some schools within Airdrie are being forced to convert library space and cut programming such as fine arts and physical education in order to make room for core subjects.
Recently, parents created the Airdrie Council of Councils, a body that is lobbying the provincial government to take action on the City’s lagging educational space problem.
Representatives from Premier Ed Stelmach’s government met with concerned parents and business owners in late June, but Wine felt the concerns fell on deaf ears.
“I don’t believe we’ve had much attention brought forth from that,” she said.
For more information, call the Airdrie Chamber of Commerce at 403-948-4412.
