Medicine Hat Public School Division to hold public consultation on two potential school closures

“We are looking at doing this because we have the children at the front of our minds for this.”

Webster Niblock School, located in Crescent Heights, is near Vincent Massey School and Dr. Ken Sauer Fine Arts School. Southview Community School, located in the city’s southeast, is near Ross Glen School and Crestwood STEM School.

“If you think about kids that are in these schools, the ones that are smaller, we’re sharing resources, we’re sharing programming, and if we can get them into one building, then this is only going to make things greater for them,” Wilson said.

“We’ll have more choice, more programs, we’ll have access to full supports in one building, and honestly, if you look at the actual evidence, students actually benefit from a larger peer group for friendships, teamwork, and leadership opportunities,” she added.

“This is all student-centred. It costs money to keep these buildings up and running, and the infrastructure money isn’t coming in as it maybe should for the age of our buildings, but we can’t say it’s all that. It’s also because our schools are not at their capacity for having students in.”

The age of the schools isn’t the key factor, according to Wilson.

“Not for these particular schools, for instance, Elm Street [School] probably is the one that you would think we consider because of the age. However, that’s our only school in that area, so that’s why we didn’t look at Elm Street, and we actually didn’t come up with this process without doing a deep dive into all the facts to every single school,” Wilson said.

“When we went into this, we didn’t know what it was going to look like coming out, and it was not what I expected,” she added.

“It was a thorough discovery, it was three days of heavy commitment to looking at every reason, every resource, every community-based child, where they were attending, how they could attend a different school, transportation, all of that played a factor into these becoming the schools that were chosen.”

The current infrastructure of nearby schools, the ability to support more students, and school conditions were also considered by the board.

Public consultation meetings are set for Southview Community School on Dec. 3, and Webster Niblock School on Dec. 4.

Both meetings will be from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Initially both were scheduled to be at the Medicine Hat Public School Division Central Office at 601 First Ave. SW, however the Webster Niblock School meeting will be held in the Medicine Hat High School Cafeteria.

Wilson said the Board of Trustees and the executive will be there.

“Whenever a decision like this is made, we want to do it in collaboration with our community. This is not something that any of us takes lightly,” Wilson said.

“We know that our hearts are in some of these schools. We have memories, and it’s emotional. And to think about closing schools, it’s not always wonderful to look at, because you have ties to these. You’ve got spirit ties to the schools,” she added.

“I think this is your opportunity to come and share your opinion, and we together will come up with what’s best for our community.”

by Jesse Gill, Jett Schwaier

Medicine Hat Public School Division to hold public consultation on two potential school closures

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