Stettler wins Catholic schooling

Parents lobby for faith-based school

By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Stettler

The school, to be served by the Wainwright-based East Central Catholic School Division, will be holding a registration afternoon April 12.

Division superintendent David Keohane expects at least 45 registrations in the first year.

He said the division would begin hiring staff, including a full-time principal and four teachers, in the next few weeks.

For Krista Kirk, who chaired the parents group lobbying for a school, Catholic education is important. So much so that last year, she registered two of her three children, Breanna, 9, and Matthew, 7, at the Catholic school in neighbouring Halkirk so they could get a Catholic education.

Her children are among 16 children from Stettler who are bused to Halkirk every morning by the East Central School Division.

On April 12, Kirk will register her three children, including five-year-old Jeremy, at the new Catholic school in Stettler.

"In September we will be opening the school and my three kids will be attending it," she said matter-of-factly.

Donna Gamache, pastoral assistant at Christ-King Parish, will also be registering her son Kelsy on April 12. "I think a Catholic school is very important especially for small children who are being formed in their faith."

Christ-King parishioners began lobbying for a school about two years ago. In 2001, after surveying the town's population and establishing that Catholics were indeed the minority in Stettler, they formed a Catholic school district. Subsequently they amalgamated that district with the East Central School Division.

The division, in consultation with parents, has put three proposals to Alberta Infrastructure, all of which would lead to a stand-alone Catholic school without requiring a brand new building, at least for now.

The 250-family parish is generally behind the project, but not all parishioners think opening a Catholic school in town is a good idea.

"We believe that by exercising our right to a Catholic education we are providing choice and choice is a good thing." - David Keohane

"Whenever you start a new Catholic school in the community, you get some people feeling that you are dividing the educational community by establishing two school (systems) and splitting up resources," said Keohane.

"We believe that by exercising our right to a Catholic education we are providing choice and choice is a good thing."

Keohane also believes the project is actually an economic opportunity for Stettler in that "we will encourage more parents to relocate (to Stettler) because they know there is a Catholic school there."

One of the housing solutions involves setting up portables adjacent to a gymnasium that's not longer in use. Another calls for leasing retail space in an under-utilized shopping mall.

The third and most popular option calls for the use of Waverly School, a former public school that has been closed for the past four years. Part of the school is currently being used to house the administration offices of the Clareview public school board and an adult learning consortium.

A decision on the most suitable option could come within a month but it is already clear where Catholic preferences lie.

"We see the ability to have Waverly School as an ideal solution," Keohane said.

"If we had everything our way that would be the solution. There is a school there, which we can eventually grow into and then we are not in a situation where we are pressuring the government for more space when the space is most probably there."

What could help the Catholic position is an Alberta Infrastructure requirement that schools use all available space before applying for new facilities.

"We have been told that as long as the government can demonstrate that there is usable (school) space (in Stettler), the minister is not going to be interested in supporting the construction of other temporary or even permanent schools," Keohane said.

"The goal here is to eventually have a facility that's our own but we want to be able to work with the government in terms of using existing space and demonstrating our viability.

"We know that it doesn't make sense to be building a new school for us if there is space there."

Like superintendent Keohane, Kirk thinks the old Waverly School is the most "logical" place to set up the new Catholic school.

"It's a stand alone school and it is in excellent condition," she said. "We would be quite happy there."

The eventual goal of the parents and the school division is to offer Catholic education from K-12 in town.

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