Morinville's secular students moved into their new digs this week, but their parents are wondering when they'll find a permanent home.
About 26 students from the Morinville Public Elementary School moved into the new portables installed next to Morinville's parish hall Monday morning. The move, the third the students have performed since the school opened last fall, is part of an ongoing effort to find a permanent home for the town's new secular school.
Staff and parents worked all day last Friday to move furniture into the portables, says principal Wayne Rufiange, which are still under construction. "There's a door that's on back-order," he says, and the portable's connection with nearby école Georges P. Vanier still needs a drop ceiling, but the classrooms are complete.
The school's grades 1to 4 students were housed at the town's Community Cultural Centre when the school opened in September, Rufiange says. They didn't have enough space there, so they moved to the nearby Sturgeon School Division offices in October.
The new classrooms come fully equipped with new coat racks and smartboards, Rufiange says, and provide about four times the space they had at the cultural centre. Students can also use the gym, library and washrooms at G. P. Vanier.
It's an interesting coincidence that the students moved into these new classrooms on Jan. 23, he says, which is the start of the Chinese New Year — it's the year of the dragon, which happens to be the school's mascot. "It just all lined up, which I think is good luck."
The inside of the school looks fantastic, says Donna Hunter, the former Morinville resident who spearheaded the push for a secular school in the town. "We're excited. We had hoped for this in September.
"Of course," she continues, "it just begs the question of what happens next September when our Grade 4s move into Grade 5."
Uncertain future
The Morinville secular school is an anomaly in that the Sturgeon School Division runs it. Morinville is in the jurisdiction of the Greater St. Albert Catholic School District, which runs the rest of the town's schools.
Many parents aren't comfortable with the school's current arrangement, says Marjorie Kirsop, who has three kids in the school. It's a secular school, yet it's linked to the Catholic G.P. Vanier — a place some parents had withdrawn their students from because it was non-secular, Hunter notes.
Kirsop says she wants to know what the school will do next year. "Are they staying in the modulars?" she asks. "Are we sending our kids elsewhere?"
These portables are not a permanent home for the school, Rufiange says. "We can't stay here forever," he says. "While we're making it work, it's certainly not ideal." The school does not currently have space to host next year's Grade 5 class.
Alberta Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk met with officials from the Sturgeon, St. Albert Catholic, and St. Albert Protestant school boards on Jan. 18 to discuss the secular school, according to provincial spokesperson Janice Schroeder, and should announce a solution for this problem before the end of the month.
The Sturgeon School Division hopes to get either a new building or six-to-eight portables for the Morinville school in time for the next school year, says MichÈle Dick, superintendent for the Sturgeon School Division. She's already fielded many calls about the school, and predicts it could grow to 150 students this fall.
The school's 60-some preschool and kindergarten students are still housed at the parish hall.
Rufiange says he hopes they'll eventually be able to have them all under one roof. "What students and parents want is a school of our own."
