Battlefords public school students going into Grade 8 in September of 2013 will be attending classes at the North Battleford Comprehensive High School.
The Living Sky School Division Board of Education passed a motion to that effect Wednesday in a move to alleviate the overcrowding of elementary schools in the Battlefords. The motion also states students going into Grade 7 in 2015 will be moved to NBCHS as well.
A public information meeting will be scheduled once the division has more details from the Ministry of Education on what changes can be made to the existing facility to accommodate the additional students.
The division is working with Daryl Richter, manager of capital projects for the Ministry of Education, who made a visit to the community earlier this year to go over the floor plan of NBCHS classroom by classroom.
Engineer Jeff Mannix of RBM Architecture is preparing information on costs to submit to the ministry and it should be ready by the end of the month.
Board members suggested the grade reconfiguration could result in a second gym being built at NBCHS. Director of Education Randy Fox told the News-Optimist a second gym would mean having enough space to offer a good physical education program.
Since the ministry has made it clear to Living Sky it would not approve adding portable classrooms or construction of additions to existing elementary schools in the Battlefords as long as there is unused space at NBCHS, the focus has been on making that facility work to meet division needs for the next decade or more. The ministry suggested the division file a renovation request in the amount of $3 million, an amount that could be adjusted later once the plans were finalized.
Fox says the division met with ministry several times over the summer.
Crowding in some of the public elementary schools in the Battlefords is the impetus behind the decision to move Grades 7 and 8.
The most recent facilities rationalization study of public schools in the Battlefords and area was completed in 2008, facilitated by Lawrence Chomos of the Saskatchewan Education Leadership Unit.
At that time, Chomos wrote in his report, "There is serious overcrowding at Battleford Central School and Connaught Elementary School."
Recommendations from the study's results included either the creation of a middle years school for the Battlefords or moving Grade 8 students to North Battleford Comprehensive High School.
Some of the overcrowding may be attributed to the closure of Battleford Junior High School and Alexander Junior High School.
In September of 2001, Grade 8 students from Alexander Junior High School began attending the four elementary schools in Battlefords and the Grade 9 students were moved to NBCHS. During that same year, Grade 7 students from Battleford Junior High school began attending Battleford Central School. In the following year Battleford Junior High School was closed and all students in Grade 9 were attending NBCHS.
