Prairie Rose Public Schools' board of trustees on Wednesday discuss a move to add to school from Calgary to the division.--News Photo Anna Smith
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
Prairie Rose Public Schools will be branching out into Calgary after a finalized draft agreement to operate two unnamed schools within that city.
PRPS was approached in March by Alberta Education, said superintendent Reagan Weeks during the May 13 public school board meeting, to see if they would consider operating the two schools. What followed has been a series of school visits by both trustees and by members of the executive team.
Between the two schools, it is estimated there are approximately 1,700-2,000 students who would be added to PRPS’s enrolment numbers.
While there were some concerns about the distance and the added complexity of needs for the division from trustees, they were overall confident they would be able to secure the right people and get a strong sense of how to meet the needs of the new students and enhance programming in the space over the course of the transition.
“Prairie Rose is certainly no stranger to geographic challenges, we have had experience with distance previously, as it currently stands, we have an over two-hour drive to some of our sites from central office, and if we were to go across our division, it would be over four hours,” said Weeks. “This actually doesn’t stretch that geographic diversity much further than it already has happened.”
It was noted that other school authorities which had overseen similar transitions would be contacted for advice, as well as with the growing levels of technology in the education world what could be accomplished from a distance.
Ultimately, PRPS will be responsible for curriculum delivery and enhancement from grades K-12 for these school sites.
With a vote at the April 8 meeting for codes for the schools, they have been able to move forward on negotiating a contract, and PRPS is happy to mention that they have a finalized draft agreement.
The schools in question were noted to be excited to work with the board and work under Week’s leadership as well. The deal will be effective on July 1, and PRPS is already working on preparing for the necessary transitional work.
