The demolition of the W.R. Frose School in Fawcett will likely proceed towards the end of this coming week, Pembina Hills Public Schools trustees heard during their Oct. 12 meeting in Barrhead.
Assistant Supt. of facilities and transportation David Garbutt said they decided to proceed with the demolition of the school subject to approval by the province on June 22.
In the last few weeks, Pembina Hills received two letters from Alberta Infrastructure and Alberta Education stating the demolition could go ahead and that the province would fund the project up to $250,000.
Garbutt noted the entire cost of the project — including items such as asbestos abatement, back fill and seeding — was tendered out at $189,231, though there may be some minor peripheral costs.
He said they have requested Fortis Alberta to disconnect the power, but everything else has been disconnected and the hazardous abatement has been completed.
The company that will actually demolish the school is beginning to set up fencing and equipment, he indicated.
Trustee Kim Webster said it was good news that the demolition was finally proceeding but “still sad” that the building had to come down.
“It’s just the end of an era,” she said.
Fawcett resident and former principal Werner Frose, for whom the building was named in 1990, said the first Fawcett school was constructed in 1954.
The new four-room schoolhouse was dubbed “Golden Jubilee” because Alberta’s 50th anniversary of entry into Confederation was celebrated the following year.
Unfortunately, a malfunction with the coal furnace caused the first school to burn down around 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 15, 1955.
An RCMP officer transporting a prisoner from Peace River to Edmonton noticed the fire and stopped to turn on his siren, Werner indicated.
A fire truck with 500 gallons of water came from Westlock to put out the fire. They nearly succeeded, but there were no other sources of water available because the temperature was around -30 to -40 C, Werner said.
A new school, which is the building that stands today, was constructed at the same site after they knocked down the old foundation.
Werner, who began as vice-principal of Fawcett School in 1955, said they added two new rooms in 1959 due to an increasing student population, while a gym was added in 1961-1962.
“At that point, we were using the stage for a classroom,” he said.
They added four more rooms in 1964-1965 and that completed the construction of the school, at least until it underwent a $1.4 million modernization in 1985.
At that point, the school population had begun to decrease. At its height, Werner said the average per classroom was around 35 students per grade.
Werner and his wife (whose first name is Margaret but prefers to go by Alice) retired in 1990. That’s when they named the school after him and the school’s library after her. The M. Alice Frose Library is still in operation and has since been moved over to the Fawcett Community Hall.
When the decision was made to shut down the school two years ago, Pembina Hills retrieved the plaques that bore Werner’s and Alice’s names from the school and had them refurbished.
Alice’s plaque hangs in their home, though Werner’s plaque is in storage. “When the school goes down, it will go up at our place,” he noted.
While some people maintain that the old school should have been preserved, Werner said the building is past its prime and it would cost at least $1 million to keep it up.
“When they take down the school, I will take some pictures of it. But there’s no feeling of great sadness,” he said.
Werner said he enjoys going for coffee or lunch with former students and it is far sadder news when he hears about one of them unexpectedly passing away.
“With the school, the memories that both my wife and I have are about the students who were there, their successes,” he said.
