Westside getting new elementary school

By Tim Kalinowski on March 11, 2021.

Herald photo by Tim Kalinowski This is the eventual site of a new K-5 elementary school in West Lethbridge in Garry Station. The province approved funding for the new much-needed facility on Wednesday.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com

The westside will finally be getting a new elementary school to help offset growth pressures.
The provincial government announced it would be spending $268 million on new schools and replacement schools over the next few years in a release to the media on Wednesday, and a new K-5 school for Lethbridge’s westside was among the projects chosen this time around.
The Lethbridge School Division had been stressing to the province the need for such a school for the last several years due to overpopulation in current schools.
Board of Trustees chair Christine Light said the Lethbridge School Division was “absolutely thrilled” with the news.
“This school has been our number one capital project priority for the past four years, and so it has been so exciting to see today that the Government of Alberta has heard our concerns, and our advocacy has paid off.”
The new school will be located in Garry Station near Kensington Road West and 30 Street West. The school division has asked for a 900-student K-5 school, but is awaiting further details from the provincial government, said Light.
The school is expected to begin construction in the next two years and be opened by 2025.
Because the opening date is still so far out, Light said the new school would not change the division’s recent plans to make boundary changes as the growth pressures will still be there on the westside for some time to come.
Light was thankful to local MLAs and the City for helping to advocate for this much needed new school on the westside.
“I would like to say a huge thank you to our MLAs, Shannon Phillips and, especially, Nathan Neudorf for their advocacy to the provincial government as well as MLAs past,” she said.
“And I would also like to extend a significant thank you to the City of Lethbridge.
“They have been unwavering partners in collaborating with us to have this new school proposal accepted by the provincial government.
“We could not have done this without the City of Lethbridge.”
Also announced on Wednesday, Coaldale’s bid to have a replacement high school built was also approved by the provincial government.
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