By Leah Murray

Catholic Board of Education considering the closure of École St. Thomas d’Aquin

Dec 13, 2017 | 4:43 PM

MEDICINE HAT – Parents of students at École St. Thomas d’Aquin are raising red flags as the Catholic Board of Education discusses possibly closing the school.

The topic was brought forward at Tuesday night’s board meeting. Parents were sent letters notifying them of the meeting Monday night.

Board chair Dick Mastel said it’s being discussed as part of the capital plan. He said the building is in desperate need of repairs and upgrades costing upwards of $2.5 million.

“Of all the schools we have in our division, of the nine schools, St Thomas is the one that needs the most money to repair,” Mastel explained.

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The plan would be to move the French immersion program to the new St. John Paul II school being built in the Southlands area.

“We’re looking at moving that program; teachers, kids, pencils, to a new school, with the hope of growing it,” said Mastel. “We are committed to the French immersion program.”

The school would no longer be a dedicated French immersion school, instead it would have a two track system, one stream for French and one for English.

There are 128 children attending École St. Thomas d’Aquin.

The school is relatively small and the class sizes are also below average. It’s something parents say they appreciate and don’t want to lose.

“With the small class sizes and small school system they’re not falling through the cracks, they have that one-on-one system right now,” said Cori Bolig. “I think in a bigger school with more students, these kids are going to fall behind.”

Principal Terry Kennedy says he understand parents are nervous about a potential change, but the school is trying to looking at this as a positive.

Kennedy said with a bigger school there are more teachers and resources for them to draw on. He adds the new building will provide a more modern space for the students which could also be a plus.

“We do know that change sometimes does create anxiety, but if we can get through this together there really is a lot of opportunity waiting for us on the other side,” he said.

The school board also hopes a move to the new school and the two stream system would help to generate more interest in the French immersion programming.

A meeting is being set up on January 8th to provide and discuss further information on the consideration of closure. Details on when and where that meeting will be are still being confirmed.

Several parents have reached out to CHAT News about this. Many said they feel like their voices may not be heard.

“To a lot of us parents it just seems like a done deal,” said Bolig. “So, they’re just kind of having to go through these steps just as a formality.”

Mastel said a final decision has not been made and they are committed to hearing from parents.

“If parents say they would rather move to school ‘A’ or school ‘B’, we would consider that,” said Mastel.

Bolig said if the move does ultimately happen she will keep her kids in the program, but she said she hopes parents will get the chance to try and save the school first.

“There’s nothing we wouldn’t do for our kids at this school,” she said. “I’m sure if we had the opportunity to come up with some kind of fundraising ideas, or something to be able to upgrade our school, all the parents would be on board.”

A stakeholder delegation will be allowed to speak to the closure consideration at the January 09, 2018 Board Meeting at 6:00 P.M.