Aspen View Public School Division has approved preliminary plans for a new secondary school that will be approximately 900 square metres smaller than Edwin Parr Composite (EPC) High School.
The division says it has been able to save 10 per cent on building the school (relative to what the Alberta School Capital Manual suggests) and settle on a smaller school because of using space in adjacent facilities, including the Athabasca Regional Multiplex fieldhouse and the science labs at Athabasca University.
The new school will be 8,654 square metres, including some modular sections that can be moved; EPC’s footprint is 9,552 square metres.
The new school’s library will be approximately 125 square metres larger than EPC’s.
The new school will have half as many science labs covering half as much space. It will have fewer permanent classrooms (12 versus 22 in EPC), but an additional eight modular classrooms will give the new school more total classroom space (1,764 square metres versus 1,583 square metres in the existing high school).
Rodney Boyko, Aspen View’s director of business relations, explained Alberta Infrastructure was interested in having the preliminary space estimates approved so that Alberta Infrastructure can hire a bridging architect.
“The next stage will be to seek a qualified builder for design-build through a RFQ (request for quotation) process,” Boyko said. “They are anticipating a design-build process for the school … We will be giving the architect a vision for the school.”
Boyko stated EPC staff have been canvassed.
“They gave quite a bit of feedback, and there are some really innovative ideas that have come out of that,” Boyko said. “One teacher suggested that if we put a sink in every classroom, then that frees up our science and art capabilities.”
Boyko said instead of having a science lab full of sinks, spaces could be used more flexibly.
He said one concern is physical education spaces in the evening hours. He said that the fieldhouse plus a new gym that’s larger than the one at EPC will give plenty of space during the day for student activities.
However, when community events occur in the evening hours, it could be problematic.
Community concerns regarding the use of the library have also been raised.
“It will be good when we have the community consultations, because there is a belief in some of the minds in the community that this library will be such that part of the library will be for the school, a part will be the municipal, and part AU,” Boyko said. “The circulation desk is the circulation desk. Whether there are two different computers — that remains to be seen.”
Boyko said that it was going to be a real partnership, and trustee Dennis MacNeil said it has worked well with other schools in the division.
“There is a body of evidence that says that community-student libraries don’t always work and that there are issues,” Aspen View superintendent Brian LeMessurier said. “Whenever you have partnerships in a facility, there are different needs. There is a possibility of challenges arising.”
LeMessurier said the division will work with the library board.
“We have to put a steering committee together to build that library so that it meets the needs of all user groups,” he said.
Another issue surrounding the library is limited access.
“That is an interesting comment, because while that is true for some, it is probably more true that we are increasing access for a greater number,” LeMessurier said. “That is because of the amount of people who come to the multiplex on a regular basis, and when you add a secondary school and a pool, you are going to have even more people circulating through the facility.”
LeMessurier said transportation would have to be addressed to assist people.
“We have a couple years to figure that out,” LeMessurier said.
Alberta Infrastructure is looking to build a core school and add modular units onto it.
“They want to be more flexible. As the population expands, contracts, and as the age groups expand and contract, they want to be able to move those modular pieces,” Boyko said.
LeMessurier stated that being attached to the multiplex would bring benefits.
“It also reduces the cost for the town of bringing the services to the site. It limits the amount of road they have to build,” LeMessurier said. “There are a lot of advantages to having it attached.”
Trustee Lewis Semashkewich removed himself from the discussion because of a conflict of interest, but didn’t explain what the conflict was. As of press time, the Advocate was unable to obtain an explanation.
