A new 500 student Kindergarten to Grade 8 school was announced for Beacon Hill subdivision, when Alberta Education Minister Jeff Johnson visited C. P. Blakely School this afternoon (Wed. Feb. 12/14).
While Johnson declined to disclose the total cost, he said similar schools have cost between $12 and $20 million depending on when they're built and how they're tendered. He anticipates the school will be ready to accept students in the fall of 2016, but noted those are very tight timelines.
Chinook's Edge School Division board chairman Colleen Butler said the announcement was "very welcome".
Sylvan Lake's growth has put pressures on all schools in the community and a new school has been on the capital request list of the division for a number of years. In the meantime, four portable classrooms will be located at C. P. Blakely School in time for the start of school this fall.