Edmonton school closures frozen for two years

[Sonic Death Monkey]

Edmonton school closures frozen for two years

Public board trustees vote 7-2 in favour of moratorium

Read more: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/...#ixzz16savtpC6

[Chmilz]

That's an easy vote considering there's no schools left to close.

[Hull534]

School enrollments are reasonably able to be predicted based upon neighborhood census. A five year early warning would give communities a reasonable chance to plan and respond to a pending school closure. It would sure beat the short notice of closure that has been happening in recent times.

[missmarble]

Originally Posted by Hull534

School enrollments are reasonably able to be predicted based upon neighborhood census. A five year early warning would give communities a reasonable chance to plan and respond to a pending school closure. It would sure beat the short notice of closure that has been happening in recent times.

That would be true if the school board actually used current census information to base it's decisions regarding school closures. They were using out of date census information for the last round of closures, and failed to acknowledge the province's 40% spike in the birthrate from 2000 to 2009.

The province’s birth rate hit a record high last year, with preliminary statistics from Service Alberta showing 51,443 infants were born in 2009.
That’s up slightly from the previous records set in 2008 and 2007, when 50,543 and 48,589 babies were born respectively.
It’s also nearly 40% higher than the birth rate in 2000, demonstrating tremendous growth over the last decade.
“It just shows we live in a great province,” said Service Alberta Minister Heather Klimchuk.
“Albertans have a lot of confidence in our future.”
(From: Calgary Sun. Jenna Mc Murray, February 18th 2010.)

I am glad this new board is willing to take the time to look at every option available.

[Gemini]

A five year ban on school closures would have been better but it's a start.

[Komrade]

Originally Posted by Chmilz

That's an easy vote considering there's no schools left to close.

No doubt! To little, to late

[Thomas Hinderks]

Actually I am very glad to see the board smarten up.

Schools in my area, including the one my 5 year old attends were in the process of starting a review.

So to our fellow C2Eer Green Grovenor that now sits on the board....good work!

Tom

[Gord Lacey]

I was happy with the decision as well. When we looked for a house to buy a couple of years ago, we knew we didn't want anything on the edge of the city, and we wanted a house near schools. Little did I know that all the schools around where I bought were on the list of possible closures. Yikes. It made voting for Sarah Hoffman a very, very easy choice.

[e5realestate]

I think what Gord Lacey is saying here is important. Neighborhood schools are still a huge factor for young families when they purchase a place. Having the EPSB put a temporary freeze will take a buying worry away, if only temporarily.

[Edmcowboy11]

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/...120/story.html

I thought that this might be a good place to put this article. It's basically talking about how some new schools on the west end are overloaded with students. Personally I think what needs to be done is to pick one of the schools that has been slated for closure, tear that school down and then build a brand new school on the same location. Give parents and families a reason to move into older neighborhoods.

[Perspective]

Originally Posted by Edmcowboy11

...Give parents and families a reason to move into older neighborhoods.

i dont know if it would be so much as a reason to move into older neighbourhoods, but made me think if building schools and other services where people "want to live" is enabling all of this. If no schools were in the area, would they be as desirable? and if so, then dont build new schools and have the kids bus for an hour to an older school.

[Komrade]

Originally Posted by Edmcowboy11

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/...120/story.html

I thought that this might be a good place to put this article. It's basically talking about how some new schools on the west end are overloaded with students. Personally I think what needs to be done is to pick one of the schools that has been slated for closure, tear that school down and then build a brand new school on the same location. Give parents and families a reason to move into older neighborhoods.

Sure!

Ill take that over building them way out in Surbubia which only furthers our Sprawl issue

[highlander]

Existing underutilized schools and the threat of school closures is also a real lesson to those who want to expand these new schools or add more in the same neighbourhoods. The fact is that the new schools will be full to bursting for one generation and then will never ever see so many students again. When new schools are built they should be designed for the expected school population in 25 years. Everything else can be portables.

[Edmonton PRT]

They should reuse schools as seniors residences like they have done withthe old North Edmonton School, now called Balwin Villa. It keeps the people in the neighbourhood. Schools should be designed to be eventually converted to senior's residences

http://www.excelsociety.org/news_balwin.html

[Komrade]

Originally Posted by Edmonton PRT

They should reuse schools as seniors residences like they have done withthe old North Edmonton School, now called Balwin Villa. It keeps the people in the neighbourhood. Schools should be designed to be eventually converted to senior's residences

http://www.excelsociety.org/news_balwin.html

Or community centers. Put a daycare, a small library, a basic health center, senior services, ect all in one building.