Blackie School facelift will benefit community

A rural school is getting an upgrade that will boost the entire community southeast of Okotoks.

Alberta Infrastructure Minister Prasad Panda announced at Blackie School on March 11 a commitment for a modernization to the kindergarten to Grade 8 facility located approximately 35km southeast of Okotoks. The modernization will include a community hall and public library at the school.

“It’s huge for our school,” said Blackie School principal Chase Ellis. “At this point, I think the exciting part is about community engagement. What we will be excited to see is how it impacts learning in the building.

“It (the community hall) gives us more flexible options in terms of programming for our students.”

He said for example at present a foods program faces some difficulties.

“It is challenging because we are trying to operate 17 kids cooking in two ovens — one is in the staff room and the other in a small kitchen — we are hoping in the future we have facilities that give us more flexibility.”

Vice-principal Tammi Andrew said the community hall will help students learn beyond the walls of Blackie School.

“Our push is to open up education so it is not just in a building,” Andrew said. “We are really pushing our kids to how they contribute to the world around them. They are part of a community that is bigger than just our school.

“And having the community be a part of our school is opening the doors a little bit for us.”

It’s been long-awaited project for the Foothills School Division. It had been on the division’s capital project list like it was Pink Floyd’s Dark Side on the Moon album on the Billboard charts in the 70s — a long time.

“The priority on our capitalization plan was to modernize Blackie School,” said Foothills Division chair Larry Albrecht. “We still have to learn the details from the government — we are hoping that it includes the entire package that we originally put forward.

“It sounds like it is. That will be really exciting for the school, the community. It is no longer just a school — Foothills County is putting in a bit of money to include a few community hubs, like a hall and the library that will be in the school… To look at not only education, but the community needs as well.

“There would be that seamless sharing of facilities that would benefit kids and the community.”

Foothills County jumped on board quickly — and it put its money behind that commitment.

The County committed nearly $500,000 for the project.

“We reached out to the residents in the area to the community to find out what they thought what they thought this project would mean and to the broader community,” said Foothills County Councillor Rob Siewert, who represents the area. “We quickly realized that the community hub portion would be very important.”

And with the Alberta economy facing difficult times, he stressed the funds are not coming out of County residents’ wallets.

“This money doesn’t come from taxpayers, it comes from our municipal reserve funds,” Siewert said. 

A modernization doesn’t always include the glamourous stuff like a community hall or library.

Albrecht said it will include sewer system, HVAC system, re-doing the gymnasium floor.

“It is bringing this very old fantastic structure to be modern,” Albrecht said.

No timeline was given for the project.

However, Prasad said the government is committed to the project regardless of the recent drop in oil prices and the hit to the Alberta economy.

"Guaranteed — we will monitor the progress to make sure it gets done on time," Prasad said. "This creates jobs and it meets the growing demands of the community."

The announcement ceremony was attended by Highwood MLA RJ Sigurdson, Livingstone-Macleod MLA Roger Reid, all six Foothills division trustees, Minister Panda, and most importantly students from Blackie School.