Fort McMurray’s public and Catholic schools are getting a total of five portables to cope with increasingly crowded classrooms in both divisions.
The leadership of both school divisions both said in interviews last August that the units were needed in the community. The portables were announced Wednesday by the Alberta government, who are calling the units “modular classrooms.”
“Alberta’s government is moving quickly to build new schools and create more classroom spaces, so our students continue to have room to grow and thrive,” said Demetrios Nicolaides, Alberta’s education and childcare minister, in a statement.
“This additional funding for modular classrooms will help us get much-needed spaces to some of our busiest schools, while we work as quickly as possible to open the doors to more than 130 school projects underway in the province.”
Despite economic uncertainty in the oilsands and an increasing reliance on transient workers, school leaders say many people who came to Fort McMurray as young people have remained and are starting families.
The most recent 2021 municipal census confirms this trend.
Immigration has also brought new students to classrooms. Many children also came with parents who are temporary foreign workers, permanent residents and people who came to Canada under the Refugee Assistance Program. A source that surprised both divisions are parents who came to Canada as international students at Keyano College.
Last March, it was announced by the province that Holy Trinity Catholic High School will have an addition built onto the existing structure in Timberlea “to accommodate growing student populations,” said a statement from the province. École Dickinsfield with the public division will get a modernization project.
The projects are in their early stages so timelines for construction or designs are not yet available. Costs will be available once they have gone to tender. The projects are part of nine school projects announced Friday for rural Alberta. They are part of a $8.6 billion announcement made last fall for 100 new and updated schools across Alberta.
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