Parents, advocates pan school delays
‘ Review … must include the project managers as well,’ association insists
Parents and education advocates reacted with dismay to news Tuesday that school construction in the province is behind schedule.
“If there are major delays, you have to look at the project managers and ask why,” said Lisa Davis, president of the Calgary Association of Parent and School Councils.
Education Minister David Eggen announced Tuesday that the government has asked the auditor general to look into major delays in school construction and funding related to the former government’s promise to build new schools and modernize existing ones.
“As the new minister responsible, and as a parent, I’m extremely disappointed to learn that many of the schools our province desperately needs will not open on time.” Eggen said the delays came to light as the NDP government developed a school capital plan.
Out of 232 Alberta school construction and modernization projects, 101 will be delayed and more than 70 per cent are a year behind schedule. In Calgary, 16 have been pushed back from September 2016 openings to either January or September 2017. Another seven have been delayed to 2018. “What needs to be clarified is are the school boards who are the managers of these projects part of the review?” said Davis. “If the minister is calling for a full and transparent review, like he says, then it must include the project managers as well.”
In January 2014, the Calgary Board of Education asked to take over managing public school construction in the city from Alberta Infrastructure because it felt it could build schools faster and more efficiently and be more reactive to community needs. But Davis notes that the CBE asked for four starter schools that already had provincial funding to be changed into full schools. All four are on Tuesday’s list of delayed projects.
“The CBE requested to do full builds there instead. As early as January of this year, they were adamant they could get them done on time.”
Two of those four schools are on the west side of Calgary — one of the areas most affected by delays. Aspen Woods is waiting for two elementary schools while West Springs has a middle school on the list released by the minister Tuesday.
“I feel a little calmer now that construction has started. Our school was scheduled for September 2016 and now it’s January 2017. As long as it’s within that 2016-’ 17 timeline, it means we won’t be busing our kids to a school,” said Jan Nicholson, one of the founders of the West Springs School Advocacy Group.
“But it’s not a one school problem. We need all three in this area. All of our schools up here are at capacity.”
“Each area of the city is in the same situation,” said Nicholson. There are tons of new communities and no new schools. There’s nowhere for the kids to go.”
That was a concern for Mark and Deb Sawdon who two years ago questioned whether a school would be built in Mahogany in time for their then 18- month- old son Niko. They left the city and have just moved back — but not to Mahogany. The K- 6 school planned for that neighbourhood has been delayed to 2018.
“We thought about going back there but said ‘ Do we really want our son to to go on the bus to Riverbend? said Deb. “It’s really hard when you’re in the outside communities and there aren’t enough schools.”
Their new neighbourhood of McKenzie Towne also has a school on the list — a new middle school is postponed several months to January 2017.
Nicholson approves of the decision to investigate delays in construction, but says serious questions remain about the political promises that were made by the former government.
“Should they be investigating why schools like Aspen haven’t even been started? We need to ask why those promises were broken. Were they unrealistic in the first place? Were they just campaign promises?”
The CBE’s greatest needs are in the south and central north, with the board targeting an 80 per cent average utilization rate for its schools. Right now the average is 85 per cent, though some schools are well above the 100 per cent mark.
Hot spots for future Catholic school development include Calgary’s deep south, where construction of a high school was planned for the new community of Legacy this fall, with completion expected for the 2017- 18 school year. Tuesday’s announcement pushes it to September 2018. A new K- 6 school in Mahogany is also delayed a year to 2018. Middle schools in McKenzie Towne, New Brighton and Cranston are delayed to January 2017.
There is also ongoing need in north Calgary, where the Calgary Catholic School District has a 102 per cent utilization rate in schools. An elementary/ junior high in Skyview Ranch is experiencing permit delays and won’t open until September 2017. A K- 9 school planned for Sherwood in the northwest is delayed a year and a K- 9 in Evanston will be delayed several months.