Photo courtesy of Conseil scholaire FrancoSud

By Scott Roblin

Stretch Drive

Construction on new École Les Cyprès location reaching final stages

Jul 14, 2020 | 5:14 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Construction on Medicine Hat’s newest school is reaching its final stages and is poised to open its doors to students this fall.

Work on École Les Cyprès has reached about 95 percent completion according to Conseil scholaire FrancoSud, the division responsible for the re-location of the Francophone school.

“I think it’s really exciting for the students that are going to be going there, the parents of those students and also the community,” said executive director of operations and maintenance Stéphan De Loof. “The school will bring new life to the community.”

Construction on the project located along Sierra Boulevard SW began in April of 2019 as a replacement for the French language school which previously was located on 1^st Avenue SE.

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Much of the interior work has been completed to this point, with the last major hurdle remaining being landscaping around the school grounds.

“It’s exciting to be able to go to a new building that will have a science lab, that will have a real gym, that will have all of those amenities that other schools in Medicine Hat will have,” said De Loof.

According to De Loof, approximately 120 students have already registered for the 2020-21 school year with the goal of opening the school on-time in September.

There is no word yet if students will be allowed to return to in-person classes in the fall, as the province is set to release their plan by August 1.

Whatever the case, FrancoSud is expecting that population to grow in the coming years with the capacity of École Les Cyprès accomodating 250 students.

“The fact that the school was outdated and the way it was, some students would rather go to a newer neighbourhood school,” said De Loof. So, usually in the first four to five years we’ll have an increase of 12 to 20 percent.”

Financially, De Loof said the project didn’t hit any major hiccups and has the chance of coming in under budget.