While grade level changes to most public schools in Airdrie passed at last week’s Rocky View Schools (RVS) board of trustees meeting are sweeping, Chair Fiona Gilbert said they are also absolutely necessary.
“We know in Airdrie all of our high schools are very overcrowded,” she stated. “We know we needed to do something with the high schools, and with the next high school we know not coming online for at least four to six years, we knew we had to do something with that.”
Gilbert said the board had originally sought an ideal solution where the grade levels at local schools would be standardized K-6, 7-9 and 10-12, but quickly realized it just wasn’t possible.
“You can’t just shift the grade nines down to the middle school, because there are domino kinds of effects,” she explained. “While we had hoped to make it consistent across the division K-6, 7-9, 10-12, that didn’t work out completely. So high schools will be 10-12, and all of the other schools across Airdrie, with the exception of Cooper’s Crossing, will adjust by a grade. So some might go up a grade or go down a grade. There will be schools that have a K-4, or K-5, K-6, and then 5-9, 6-9, those kinds of things.”
Gilbert realizes that these changes could be a bit of a shock for some local parents and schools, and that is why the board chose not to implement changes until September 2025, to create a period of adjustment.
“There are a couple of communities that are more impacted than others,” she confirmed. “When you look at it, we are giving families a year to get used to the change. None of these changes take effect until September 2025. There are about 13,000 students in Airdrie, and for 2025 there are less than 1,000 kids that will be changing schools.”
Outside of the general realignment of grades which will take place in 2025, Gilbert said the board had chosen to take away high school of choice for students living in the central Airdrie communities of Downtown, Edgewater, Edmonton Trail (South), Ridgegate and The Village (South) who had been attending Muriel Clayton Middle School.
Students in this area will now be assigned a specific high school to attend upon moving up from middle school.
Taking away the choice option could affect potentially 100 students looking to attend high school in 2025, said Gilbert, but the board had left open the option for these families to apply as out of area students if they wish to attend a different high school than designated by RVS.
Ward boundaries review
Rocky View Schools (RVS) also launched a ward boundary review on Monday as part of its preparations for board elections in 2025.
Gilbert said given the high rate of population growth in the Rocky View Schools attendance area since the last boundary review in 2017, a number which now stands at 195,000 residents, the current board felt it necessary to look at how the current wards are representing their electoral demographics.
“If we are wanting to make changes to our boundaries, the decision needs to be made prior to Dec. 31, 2024,” she explained. “So that’s the timeline we are working with. When you are looking at electoral boundaries, the principle of representation by population comes into effect.”
GIlbert said RVS wants to hear from all citizens on how the ward boundaries should be adjusted, regardless of whether they have kids in school or not.
RVS is holding four public meetings to consider three options:
A seven-trustee option combining Ward 2 (Langdon, Indus and Chestermere rural areas) and Ward 4 (Crossfield, Beiseker, Irricana, Kathyrn and Airdrie rural areas) and redistributing 5,600 residents from Ward 6 (Cochrane: Sunset Ridge) into Ward 5 (Bragg Creek, Springbank, Bearspaw, Westbrook and Cochrane rural areas).
An eight-trustee option adding a trustee to Ward 6 (Cochrane would now have two trustees) and combining Ward 2 (Langdon, Indus and Chestermere rural areas) and Ward 4 (Crossfield, Beiseker, Irricana, Kathyrn and Airdrie rural areas).
A nine-trustee option adding a trustee to Ward 6 (Cochrane would now have two trustees), and redistributing 8,600 residents from Ward 3 (Airdrie: North of Veterans Blvd) into Ward 4 (Crossfield, Beiseker, Irricana, Kathyrn, and Airdrie rural areas) and redistributing 5,100 residents from Ward 1 (Chestermere: East side of the Lake and East of Range Road 282 on the south end of the lake) into Ward 2 (Langdon, Indus and Chestermere rural areas).
Further explanation of these options and the upcoming meeting dates are available on RVSEngage. .
