Okotoks' Good Shepherd School is in need of some TLC and the Christ the Redeemer School division is hoping the province will grant its wish.
Replacing the K-6 school has been on the top of the Catholic school division's capital priority list for some time, said superintendent Scott Morrison.
"The school is safe, but the school needs to have the roof changed from wood to steel and so what we found is to replace the roof, the wooden roof, with a steel structure roof, we would need to then rebuild the walls to support the weight of the roof and then when we rebuild the walls, we’d also need to redo the foundation," he explained.
"The school consists of multiple sections, I think there’s five or six, so essentially we have to tear down an entire section and then rebuild it."
Remediating these deficiencies with students in the building would be impractical and distracting, Morrison added.
In an ideal world, the division would receive funding from Alberta Infrastructure and Alberta Education to construct a new school in D'Arcy, leaving the current building in use during that time.
Morrison said an announcement of approved projects will come in March.
Should CTR receive funding, it would plan to open the new building as a K-6 school, with the ability to expand to Grade 9. Morrison said a larger building is desired.
Good Shepherd would take up a spot of the pre-designated school site in the development, he said, with room for Foothills School Division to build a school of its own in the future.
"There’s other sites available as well, that’s really because the Town pre-dedicated the site in the Wedderburn area, which was really forward thinking," he said. "You just don’t get a school unless you have a site ready and we’re in a great position with a shovel-ready site right now and not many communities can say that."
Projects are awarded based on a set of criteria, including student population and community growth.
Morrison said the division is confident in its proposal.
"We look at us and we know the school needs to be remediated, it’s not safe to remediate with students in it and we also know that the town is growing and that’s a growing, brand new neighbourhood, so we think our bid will be very competitive and we’re very hopeful," he said.
The superintendent also said he believes the mandate letter sent by Premier Danielle Smith to Education Minister Adriana LaGrange last week, which indicates construction of more schools as a priority, will work in its favour.
