Parents speak out about school closure possibilities

By Zoe Mason on November 13, 2025.

Parents of students at Webster Niblock School are expressing concern about the proposed closure of the school.

Following the announcement that the Medicine Hat Public School Division is considering the permanent closure of Webster Niblock and Southview schools, parents of children at Webster are advocating for the division to change its mind.

“I went to Webster when I was a kid,” said Spencer Hodgson, a parent to two children at Webster. “We lived in Lethbridge for 10 years, and then coming back here. I knew Webster was somewhere that was safe, somewhere I felt my kids could grow and just get the same experience I had.”

“It’s such an attachment in our family. Both myself and their dad went there when we were kids,” said Leanna Nguyen, a parent to two children at Webster and a third who graduated last year. “It has history. It’s not just a school, it’s like a little community.”

Hodgson says he’s had nothing but great teachers since enrolling his own children at Webster. It’s a sentiment echoed by other parents.

Nguyen says she worries about what will happen to the teachers if the school closure goes through.

“What are you going to do with all my teachers? What are you going to do with all my administrators? Are you going to guarantee they’re going to have jobs?”

Nguyen is also worried that diverting the kids who attend Webster to Vincent Massey and Dr. Ken Sauer will put additional pressure on teachers and educational staff at those schools.

“The teachers just came off strike for classroom complexities and overcrowding, and now you’re going to take a school of almost 200 and try to divide it into a bigger school – the teachers are already stretched so far.”

Catherine Wilson is the board chair of Medicine Hat Public School Division. She says that while the emotional toll of losing the school itself is considerable, parents and students stand to gain more than they lose by consolidating resources.

“I try to explain it like this – if you move some children into schools that have a higher population, then you’re looking at peer support with each other, and then we are providing the best optimal learning environment for our students because it’s funded per student,” she said. “The money would follow the student.”

Nguyen says she understands the case for a new school.

“I completely understand what they’re wanting to do, take that money and put it into more resources and services for the children,” she said.

But she worries about the social and educational impact the disruption will have on her two children. She said according to the division lines as she understands them, her children will be separated from their closest friends.

She also feels parents have been given little notice about the news and provided little information about the reasons why.

Nguyen says she’d like to hear more from decision-makers about the kinds of services that are going to become available at the other schools should the Webster closure go through.

Hodgson says he fails to understand why Webster, which he says recently received several notable building upgrades over the years, would be singled out for closure over Massey, which he says is older and less recently renovated.

Even if the numbers suggest a need for a closure, Hodgson says the human element is lost by that kind of decision making.

“Webster is definitely a key part of our community. I encourage Catherine (Wilson) to come through and actually see the passion and the excitement in that school, that those kids have for that school, and that those teachers have for that school. I think that’s something that’s being overlooked. It doesn’t show up in their stats.”

Wilson says Webster underutilized; division would provide students with more resources

“When you look at it realistically, we have three schools in one area under four kilometres from each other, all K-6,” she said.

Wilson says almost 50 per cent of students living in the Webster Niblock zone elect to attend other schools in the division, and only 176 students are currently enrolled at Webster.

Wilson says she understands where parents are coming from, but that some of their objections have been misdirected.

The proposal to close Webster and Southview arose from a value scoping process that the public division conducted in response to the province’s School Construction Accelerator Program. But it isn’t a result of any direct or indirect pressure from the province itself.

Although parents told the News they understood the decision to be based on funding, Wilson says that’s not the case. Rather, she says, it’s about under-utilization.

“Local birth rates are declining. This is about making proper usage of our resources,” she said.

“When you have a school that’s 176 students and you’re being funded for 176 students, how can we get the best supports in there? Or academies, STEM, extracurricular things, when the school is being underutilized? This is really about the students.”

Parents also raised concerns about potential overcrowding at Massey and Sauer, but Wilson says the schools are equipped to absorb new students. Sauer currently has 298 students, and Wilson says the school was planned with the addition of portables in mind if needed. Massey has only 207 students, well below capacity.

“People get very sad, and I get it,” said Wilson. “I have a school named after my dad. I put myself in their position 10 years down the road: what if this is me? It’s a hard decision.”

“However, we have to remember that a building is a building. It’s what’s in the building that makes it so beautiful. It’s the teachers, the connection piece, the neighbourhood piece. If we go ahead, we will ensure all of that support will follow the children.”

Wilson encourages interested parents to register for planned public consultations next month.