Overcrowding at School Still an Issue
In spite of a major modernization of nearly $4 million planned at Provost Public School there are still concerns of overcrowding, says chairman of the Provost Public School Council, Agnes Whiting.

A public meeting was held Thursday night, January 17 to discuss the issue and a new group was formed that is supporting the efforts of the school council.

Volunteering to serve on the new committee were Neil Paulgaard, Charlie Leachman, Phil Haggerty, David Blume, Peggy McFadyen, and Susan McElhinney. Town councillors Betty Varty and Neil Whiting who were at the meeting volunteered to represent the Town of Provost.

Agnes Whiting said that the school council has also recently received the support of the MD council.

The new committee is planning to meet this week to discuss what to do next with the question of Buffalo Trail Regional Division’s plan for the school and space issues.

Approximately 80 people attended the meeting at the PPS gym with Don Penman of Czar as emcee.

None of the school board was present at the meeting and it was reported that they were attending another school related issue in Mannville that evening.

School board trustee for this area, Ches Spornitz of Hughenden told The News in a telephone interview on Friday afternoon, January 18 that he believes there will be enough room after the addition. Part of that issue may depend on how active the oilpatch is, he added. Spornitz says if a recent downturn continues then there could be declining enrollment. He did say however that PPS has been the only school in the entire school division with a growing population.

A former teacher, Spornitz added that “I really think the CTS (Career Technology Studies) belongs in the school where it can become a major part of the school.” He said that the previous year the automotive section generated a grand total of 15 credits while the previous year a total of 25 credits were earned there.

He added that there may not be space increased in classrooms but overall there will be a “lot more space” in the school. Spornitz also pointed to a new gym that will be an improvement over renovating the existing one and an extra computer lab that will be built. He called the lab “an important plus.” At the CTS building there have been technology problems because of aging. The school will also “end up with a good ECS room.”
Whiting, who has served on the school council for a decade said that with proposed changes and modernization “We still haven’t gained any major space.” She said that if the CTS building would not be moved back to PPS as is being proposed by the school board then there would likely be enough space.

She said in an interview on January 18 that the new volunteer group will also have some members from the school council group. They hope to “come up with the best plan for the school and students.”

The CTS building is jointly operated by the Buffalo Trail Regional Division (80 percent interest) and by the separate school system (20 percent).

Myron Ganser, who is a trustee for the East Central Alberta Catholic Separate School Regional Division gave a history of the operation of the CTS. The CTS replaced the traditional industrial arts and home economics in the mid 1990s when the Provost School Division and the separate school system along with Eastpark Educational Opportunities Council developed a new program in a building that was originally a provincial liquor store. At first there was a lot of demand for learning emerging technologies but as time went by better technology could be utilized elsewhere. Ganser said that at first people believed that the centre “would be buzzing (with activity) day and night, but this did not happen.” Many of the original 25 computers were often not used at one time, it was heard. Eventually the operation was turned over to local school principals. Ganser suggested the educational trend is now away from a lot of large industrial equipment towards computer simulations.

Government funding supplied $550,000 to get the CTS building operating and Whiting says that since 1995, $76,000 has been donated from local agencies and businesses. Eastpark Educational Opportunities Council had put in $22,000.

The Provost Public School Council has a list of priorities that they have been focussing on: more classroom space; specialty rooms for special education, early literacy and ECS (Kindergarten); adding more gym space through remodeling of existing gym or new two stage gym; break-out rooms (rooms where a student who has problems can go with an aide or teacher to work together. Presently this can take place in hallways with up to 15 students at different times who require additional help, says Whiting; new washrooms in the elementary area; a gathering area for students; more storage for supplies; expanded boot rooms in the elementary area; and to enlarge the library.

A survey conducted by the school council showed that of 169 forms distributed to students from Grades 7 to 12, 100 percent of forms were returned. Tabulations show that 94 percent of those students did not want the CTS program moved to the school. Of 455 forms distributed to parents, 29 percent were returned and of those 98 percent were not in favour of the CTS program moving to PPS.

A teacher and staff survey was also conducted with 40 forms distributed and 32 of those forms returned. Of those 32 forms returned, 100 percent indicated that the CTS program not be moved to the school.

Paul Murray, who serves on the Provost Public School Council told the crowd Thursday night that “Anything is worth fighting for” and that there is a possibility to get plans changed. He said the major concern is space requirements when the CTS is moved back to PPS.
Spornitz said on Friday that he would be willing to meet with the new committee from Provost over their concerns. But he said it should be done soon. “We want to get tenders (for building) out the first part of February.”

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