MALLAIG - Mallaig School has been approved for funding to continue on with the process of getting a new school built in the small hamlet, located within the County of St. Paul.
Included in the provincial government's recently announced budget was funding for a list of Alberta schools - either in the form of dollars for construction, or funds to get the design and pre-planning processes underway. With St. Paul Education already having completed the pre-planning stage, which involved a Value Management Study Report released in November of 2018, funding for the design of a new school is the next step in the process.
The design funds are not specifically for the construction of a new school, and typically, the announcement for construction funds follows the completion of the design process, heard the St. Paul Education board of trustees on Wednesday afternoon during their March board meeting.
Superintendent Peter Barron said he heard news of the funding while he was in Mallaig, where he was able to relay the information first-hand to some of the staff and students.
"This is very good news for us," said Barron, during the March 8 school board meeting.
"A new school is always a good thing," said board chair Sylvie Smyl.
Excitement
Mallaig School Principal Kellie Handford echoed those sentiments when speaking with Lakeland This Week, later in the week. While Handford was not part of the previous work and report that was done in 2018, she was part of the process when Ashmont School was built, and knows first-hand the excitement that comes with a new school being built in a community.
“New is always exciting," she says. Looking down the road to the very likely construction of a new school in Mallaig, Handford is hopeful a new building will create opportunities to build on some of the school's programming.
Handford explained that every couple of months, the school hosts what it calls Community Sharing days, inviting grandparents and other members of the community to share stories about how life was when they were growing up. The last Community Sharing event was held on March 1 - the same day the announcement was made regarding the design funds.
Superintendent Barron was an invited guest on March 1, sharing his experiences and answering student questions. At one point, he had to take a break to answer a phone call, explains Handford. That phone call happened to be the announcement of design funds for Mallaig School.
After the phone call, Barron returned to the class, finished his presentation with students, and made the announcement that the school had made the list.
Number one priority
Secretary-Treasurer Jean Champagne noted that Mallaig School has been the number one priority on the school division's list for a number of years.
The first step will be to have a consultant hired, but generally the provincial government leads the process, explained Champagne. Speaking to timelines, he noted that the design phase takes about a year. And once funding for construction is approved, it typically takes about a year and a half for a new school to be built.
In order to create a more attractive and viable bid for a new school build in Mallaig, the St. Paul Education board of trustees agreed to decrease the capacity of a potential new school in the community from 350 students to 320 students, in 2021.
The current enrolment at Mallaig School is 219, confirmed Champagne.
"Alberta Education funds new capital projects and they are quite sensitive to right sizing them to align with near term enrolment," explained Champagne, in an email with Lakeland This Week. "Typically new designs have a central core with an option to add classroom space if a community experiences future growth. The approved area is based on a provincial matrix that takes into account grade levels, programming and enrolment."
RELATED STORY - Board agrees to reduce capacity of proposed new school
Following a study completed in March of 2018, it was determined that a new school build would likely be the best option to replace the aging Kindergarten to Grade 12 school in Mallaig.
According to past forecasts from the province, the school is not expected to surpass 250 students for several years, which is why the project was scaled down to a capacity of 320 students.
