BARRHEAD/WESTLOCK — None of the community schools in Pembina Hills meet the criteria for closure or grade re-configuration, according to the 2023-2024 school viability report presented to trustees at their Nov. 22 meeting.
Policy 15 — Grade Configuration and School Closure requires the superintendent to annually apply a set of criteria to the division’s schools and then make a recommendation to the board about whether any school should be closed or undergo a grade re-configuration the following year.
For instance, if a school has less than 20 full-time students in Kindergarten to Grade 3, Grades 4-6, Grades 7-9 or Grades 10-12, it may be considered for closure. (The two Hutterite Colony schools are exempt from this consideration.)
Closure or grade re-configuration may also be considered if less than 60 per cent of students in a school’s attendance area actually go to that school.
Other criteria specified in Policy 15 relate to five-year enrolment projections, which are completed in January; the physical condition of a school building and whether it poses a danger to students and staff; and whether the continued operation of a school will create excessive costs to the division.
Fortunately, as noted in the report, there are no Pembina Hills schools that trigger any of the closure criteria outlined in Policy 15.
As such, administration recommended that the board not consider any school closures for the 2023-2024 school year, and the school viability report was only accepted for information.
This is the third year in a row that none of the community schools in Pembina Hills have met the closure/grade re-configuration criteria.
In fact, the last time it occurred was in 2020, when Fort Assiniboine School triggered one of the criteria due to having an enrolment of only 19 Grade 4-6 students.
Even then, administration did not recommend closing Fort Assiniboine, and enrolment was back up over the threshold the following year.
