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A new public high school in Edmonton is putting together the final details as it prepares to open its doors to students on Thursday.
Elder Dr. Francis Whiskeyjack High School in the Meadows neighbourhood will welcome approximately 850 students in grades 10 and 11 for the 2024-25 school year. It is Edmonton Public Schools’ newest high school since Dr. Anne Anderson School opened in 2021. Before that, the last school built in the district was Lillian Osborne High School, which opened in 2009 in the southwest.
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The four-storey building has an open-concept layout paired with a modern post-secondary feel. Some highlights include a gymnasium with three basketball courts and a fitness centre, a culinary kitchen that serves as a cafeteria, an open space learning commons or library, 103 classrooms and various breakout rooms for students.
“It feels amazing, exciting — daunting a little bit,” principal Tammy Tchir said Monday.
“There’s a lot of details to take care of, but it’s just an honour… and I’m super excited for students in this part of the city to have this opportunity of a new high school.”
The gymnasium will have new bleachers installed in the coming weeks but will be ready for Thursday’s assembly.
Tchir said the school is currently closed for enrolment but will accept some student registrations for those who are moving to the area. The board is doing a staggered approach when it comes to enrolment and will add Grade 12 in the 2025-26 school year with an enrolment capacity of 2,400 students.
Class sizes are estimated to be between 24 to 36 students.
Expecting 50 new schools this decade
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Board chairwoman Julie Kusiek said enrolment has been steadily increasing and school capacities are being stretched thin. She said in the next 10 years, the school board expects to need to open 50 new schools.
“In September last year, we had 100 new students coming every single week… and we have no indication that will be slowing down any time soon,” Kusiek said.
There are currently 121,000 students enrolled in Edmonton Public Schools for the 2024-25 school year. The board saw an additional 6,600 new students in fall 2024 compared to fall 2023. Kusiek said they are projecting 176,000 students by 2033.
Some strategies the board is implementing in the interim are larger class sizes, using certain labs as classroom spaces or more frequently, reclaiming some tenant space in elementary schools.
Over the summer, the province announced Alberta school boards will receive an additional $215 million. Around $125 million will be dispersed to school districts to help with operational costs while $90 million will go toward adding more modular classrooms in Calgary, Edmonton and Airdrie.
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Kusiek said the board’s share will be about $22 million, which will go toward costs, including hiring new staff.
“There hasn’t been an opportunity yet for the board of trustees to approve the distribution, (but) that will be coming in early September, and at that time, we’ll be able to determine how that funding will be used,” Kusiek said.
ctran@postmedia.com@kccindytran
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