By Charles Lefebvre

Development permit approved for École Les Cyprès replacement

Apr 25, 2018 | 3:47 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — A new school for Francophone students in Medicine Hat is another step closer to being built.

A replacement for École Les Cyprès was first announced in the 2017 Provincial Budget.

A development permit has been approved by the city, and the next step is to get a building permit, according to Stephan De Loof, executive director of maintenance and transport for the Conseil scholaire FrancoSud (the Southern Francophone Education Region).

“We’re planning to have all of these things done by July so we can go to tender after that,” he said over the phone from Okotoks on Wednesday.

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École Les Cyprès currently located on First Avenue Southeast, has approximately 100 students enrolled from kindergarten to Grade 12. When the new school is built, De Loof says it will likely have 150 students when it opens, and will have capacity for 300 students.

“It’ll be a K-12 school that will have all the amenities to provide the programs from Alberta Education,” he said. “We’re talking science lab, proper gym, CTS (career and technology studies) space, that kind of thing.”

He adds the school will also have benefit for the larger Francophone community in the city.

“When you have a nice building like this, it becomes a bit of a hub for the Francophone community,” he said.

“They can have activities in the gym on the weekend. Right now, we don’t event have a gym where the activities can be done…If you have computer labs, you can offer night classes in French. There’s many things that can be done where the community can be involved.”

The facilities would also be open for non Francophone members of the community to rent or use, says De Loof.

The new school is expected to be open in time for the 2020-21 school year.