There will be no Catholic school in Lac La Biche in 2015, as the area Catholic school board was not able to acquire a building in time.
There will be no Catholic school in Lac La Biche in 2015, as the area Catholic school board was not able to acquire a building in time.
The Lakeland Catholic School Division had hoped to establish a publicly-funded Roman Catholic separate school in the hamlet of Lac La Biche this September, after local Catholics voted in favour of the school earlier this year. However, the division was not able to secure a meeting with Alberta Education Minister David Eggen to discuss acquiring a building, and they now plan to postpone the opening of the new school until September 2016.
"Unfortunately, we haven't been able to accomplish what we'd hoped to do, which was to have a facility available for us to set up for September 1st," said Mary Anne Penner, chair of the Lakeland Catholic School Division board. "We're very disappointed we weren't able to offer a school for the people there in Lac La Biche."
Penner said the board had hoped to establish the new school in the old Dr. Swift School building on Lac La Biche's Main Street, which is currently vacant. The building formerly held a middle school operated by the public Northern Lights School Division. A number of local groups have expressed interest in occupying the vacant building, but NLSD officials have communicated to the POST that they believe the building must be offered to other K-12 school boards before it can be given to a non-school entity.
Based on current interest, Penner said more than 70 children planned to register at the new school. The school was to offer kindergarten to Grade 6, based on the ages of the children interested.
"We'll hold onto those applications, and we will be allowing those people to know when we have a facility and when we're ready to open up," Penner said.
The division will personally contact all affected parents to let them know the school will not be opening this year.
Now, the division's next step will be to secure a meeting with Minister Eggen, in hopes that he will be able to grant them use of a building in the Lac La Biche area.
"It's very difficult to get ahold of this minister right now," Penner said. "We are working very hard to establish or find a school, or find a facility, to be able to offer a Catholic education in Lac La Biche.
"Now, we're trying to get a meeting with the minister to get his assistance in this and we'll go from there. If parents want to help us, then they would do so by contacting their MLA and the Minister of Education."
The Alberta Ministry of Education was not able to confirm the details of Minister Eggen’ s interactions with the school division by press time.
“The process for submitting projects is part of each school board's planning process and should be submitted with their three-year capital plans,” said Jeremy Nolais, a Ministry of Education spokesperson. “We're happy to discuss all matters related to school infrastructure with boards."
