Morinville parents struggled to come to grips with their new reality this week in wake of last week's decision to transfer Georges P. Vanier Elementary School to the Sturgeon School Division.
Education Minister Jeff Johnson proclaimed the St. Albert and Sturgeon Valley School Districts Establishment Act into law last Friday. The law transfers ownership of Georges P. Vanier to Sturgeon from the St. Albert Catholic board as of July 1.
Some 120 people came to Vanier's gym Monday to find out how this change would affect their children.
This decision was a surprise and disappointment to many, said Catholic board chair Lauri-Ann Turnbull.
"This has not been an easy decision," she said, fighting tears as she addressed the crowd. "You have to know we wanted to keep all our schools."
Who goes where?
But the board ultimately decided to give up Vanier, Turnbull told the crowd. The province told them they needed a permanent structure for Sturgeon that had a gym and a library and would be ready by September.
The province rejected the idea of putting the students in an upgraded Sturgeon School Division office, she continued, which meant that the Catholic board had to give up either Notre Dame Elementary or Vanier. Vanier had fewer students, so they went with it. "The final decision did not get made until Thursday night," she emphasized.
Vanier's 350-some students will be split between Notre Dame and Georges H. Primeau Middle School, said Catholic superintendant David Keohane.
Notre Dame will grow to about 420 students from its current 370, Keohane said, making it roughly the size of St. Albert's Neil M. Ross. Primeau will grow to 450 students from its current 380.
Class sizes at Primeau and Notre Dame would be in the mid-to-low 20s, he told the crowd. "These class sizes will be among the lowest the division has."
The two schools will also shift their grades. Notre Dame will now be a kindergarten to Grade 4 school, Keohane said, while Primeau will cover grades 5 to 8. Notre Dame will host Vanier's preschool program. French immersion would now be available at Notre Dame and Primeau.
Notre Dame will get a new parking lot and seven portables to accommodate its new students, Keohane said. Two of those portables are built, three should be ready by July 7, and two are currently attached to Vanier.
There's no plan B in place if these portables aren't ready by the fall, Keohane said in a later interview.
"It is going to happen," he said of the set-up of the portables, and it's entirely up to the province to make it happen. "It's not an option for the [education] minister to make a decision like this and not fulfil his commitment."
The Catholic board did not expect to drop any teachers or support staff as a result of losing a school, Keohane said. If they did, staff would be let go based on seniority and union agreements.
Unanswered questions
The Catholic board was still figuring out what items it would turn over to Sturgeon after it leaves Vanier, Sturgeon superintendent MichÈle Dick said in an interview. "I'm anticipating we will pretty much have an empty building."
Dick said Sturgeon now needs to get library books, staff and interactive boards for its new school – to be called Morinville Public School – and figure out bus arrangements with the Catholic board.
Sturgeon isn't sure what grades Vanier will cover this fall, Dick said, but she said it would eventually be a K-to-12 school. "It will be completely dependent on registration."
About 170 people have registered for the school so far, she added, with more expected to come now that the swap is official. "Many parents have been waiting for this."
Mixed reactions
Gillian Schaefer Percy said she was excited that her daughter at Morinville Public would have a permanent school to attend next year.
"Now we have an opportunity for all of our students to have access to the basics of public education that a kid shouldn't have to beg for."
Albert Lutz said he was disappointed that the minister decided to do a school swap instead of busing the secular kids out of town until a new local school could be built.
"We are disrupting the majority of children for the minority of children," he said, referring to the secular school's smaller population.
He was also frustrated that Sturgeon had yet to figure out what grades it would offer. "Is this a K-to-12? Is it a K-to-3? A K-to-9? I've got no clue, and I've got to make a decision [on where to enrol my child]."
The wounds from this decision were still pretty open, Turnbull said, and will take time to heal. "Certainly the community at large is struggling to understand how this decision was made."
This is a tough time for everyone, Schaefer Percy said, and she hoped the community would come together to get through it. "This is our community. This is our family."
