Consider it signed, sealed and delivered.
The Aspen View Public School board approved the final size and construction budget for a new secondary school in Athabasca, presented to them at their meeting held in Boyle last Thursday.
The replacement for Edwin Parr Composite School had been the subject of some negotiating between the board and Alberta Education over a request to slash the size of the school by about 10 per cent.
However, a compromise proposal from Aspen View that was sent to the provincial government a week earlier received a positive response only hours before Thursday’s board meeting.
The finalized new school will be constructed to house 900 students initially with future capacity of 1,000 through adding modular classrooms when the need is there.
That translates into a decrease of slightly more than 400 square metres, which with the inclusion of a 255 square metre decrease to the gym area, which meant the school board could hang onto much-needed instructional space such as science and computer labs.
“It was confirmed via email this morning,” Mark Francis, Aspen View Superintendent, stated in his presentation to the board.
“The primary hold up was on the budget and space. The compromise means a temporary loss of classroom space.”
Francis explained that had this deal not come through, it would have meant bigger losses in terms of labs and gym space, which even with the size decrease will see the new gym slightly more than one-third larger than the present EPC gym.
“Once you lose those core spaces, you may never get them back,” he stated. “Now that we have been able to keep the core, we can add on classrooms later. I can tell the board that, as administration, we are not unhappy with this compromise.”
The budget for the new school, approved by the province, has been set at $33.85 million. That figure doesn’t include any furniture, equipment or the demolition and material removal of the current EPC site.
“The reality is we are going up against places like St. Albert where there is a growing need to accommodate over-crowded schools, so we needed to submit something that was realistic for all taxpayers. We stood our ground and got a good deal,” Francis explained.
“If there was no new school, then we would have to invest money in a 1949 building with many problems.”
As far at the board of trustees was concerned, it was finally the outcome they’ve been wanting for months.
Board chair Dennis MacNeil put it best when outlining the magnitude of this announcement.
“It is critically important,” said MacNeil following last Thursday’s board meeting.
“Now we can finally get shovels hitting the ground. It’s a major step forward.”
Trustees Candyce Nikipelo and Elohne Chizawsky stated it would have been a harder sell to the regions they represent – Boyle/Grassland and Smoky Lake – for Athabasca to get a new school if it was going to be a scaled down version and they were both glad to see the division didn’t have to sacrifice those core components.
Francis did state the provincial government will provide the funding for the demolition and material removal of the present EPC school along with additional funds for furniture and other necessary equipment for the new school.
However, he added, that Alberta Education has not set out exactly what those costs will be in the project’s proposed budget as those expenses will be determined and paid, when they are incurred in future years.
With the size and budget of the school project behind them, Francis stated they will now open the tenders for the bridging architect – or project management contract – to coordinate the construction of the school in conjunction with the building of the new pool and community library.
At the steering committee meeting held last Wednesday, it was determined that a member from each stakeholder – Athabasca County, Town of Athabasca, AVPS, Athabasca Public Library and Athabasca Regional Multiplex – would sit on a committee to look at what integrated, shared space designs presently out there may work in Athabasca’s case.
It was determined that those representatives would make a trip yesterday to look at facilities in Olds and Penhold. Other visits are also planned for last this month to facilities in Red Deer, Cold Lake and Lac La Biche.
Library board members are not on this first trip, as those facilities do not include a shared library component.
Meanwhile, Athabasca town council last Tuesday rejected the idea of sending representatives on the fact-finding trip due to concerns over not being able to have everyone go so that they could form an opinion as well as not wanting to travel that far to tour similar facilities.
Only councillor Steve Schafer voting in favour of having the town represented on the trips.
