Breton School October 4 Community Meeting Summary and Survey

Wild Rose School Division would like to thank all those who attended the October 4, 2023 community engagement meeting to discuss the Breton High School modernization project. 

In the WRSD 2022-25 Three Year Capital Plan, as per the government’s Planning and Building Schools process, the board of Trustees submitted to the government of Alberta the right-sizing of Breton schools as its top capital plan request. This was based on engineering reports indicating that both BHS and BES would soon be in need of major upgrades as well as their combined low utilization rate of only 50%. Our goal was to submit a project request that would provide a fully modernized school, increase utilization and keep all K-12 students in the community of Breton. This plan was discussed at a Breton community engagement meeting on April 12, 2021.

In March 2023, the government of Alberta approved design funding for our request to modernize Breton High School into a K-12 school and demolish Breton Elementary School. Alberta Infrastructure (project manager for this modernization) proceeded to select a design architect and engineering team to work with WRSD in developing a suitable design for a modernized K-12 school. The design process is expected to take place during the 2023-24 school year. If the the government of Alberta awards a construction budget for this project this coming spring, it is hoped that construction could begin sometime in late summer or fall of 2024.

Before the design of the modernization can begin, the architect needs to know if we are planning on vacating BHS during construction or planning to use a phased approach. The design of the modernization will be impacted based on which choice we make. The Board of Trustees needs to make this decision by the end of October so that the design process can get started.

At the October 4 community meeting, WRSD administration presented some of the pros and cons for both choices. Please see this link for a copy of that presentation. 

In a phased approach, students and staff are moved to one section of the building while construction takes place in other parts of the building. If we choose the phased approach, it is beneficial to have the least number of phases possible. As such, we would consider moving some or all of the junior high grades to Breton Elementary during construction to keep the number of phases to a minimum. This would leave just the grade 10-12 students and staff moving to different parts of BHS throughout construction. Parts of the school would be unavailable for long periods of time, while this is happening. In addition to regular classrooms, this will include the gymnasium and specialized classrooms used for CTS and Fine Arts courses.

If we choose to fully vacate BHS during modernization, we would need to find another location for those students and staff. Black Gold School Division has offered us the upstairs section of Warburg School. It contains enough space to accommodate all of our grade 7- 12 students and staff. It also has 2 gymnasiums as well as shop, food studies and fine arts classrooms that would be accessible to our BHS students and staff. BHS students would continue to be taught by BHS teachers. Breton sports teams would be maintained during this time. BHS would be its own school, functioning within the Warburg school building. Using this choice would mean that upon arrival to Breton each day, all of our grade 7-12 students would get on transfer buses that would take them to Warburg. At the end of the day, these transfer buses would return students to Breton, after which they would get on their regular bus home. This solution would mean earlier pick up times (10-15 minutes) and later drop off times (10-15 minutes) for all Breton bus students, to account for the additional travel time to Warburg.

Regardless of which choice we make, we recognize that the modernization process will have its challenges for students, staff, families and the community of Breton. However, the end result of a fully modernized school built for 21st century learning, will keep this school building in the community for many years to come.

As suggested at the October 4 meeting and as we realize this is a significant decision, we would like to provide two ways for students, staff, parents and community members to provide feedback to the WRSD Board of Trustees prior to making this decision. 

• If you would like to indicate your preference regarding whether or not we should fully vacate or use phasing during construction, please complete this one question survey.  
• If you wish to express your concerns in writing, please send them to contactus@wrsd.ca.  

At 12:00 noon on Friday, October 13 the survey will be closed and any written comments received will be forwarded to the Board of Trustees. This information will be helpful to the Board in making this important decision at their October 17 public board meeting at the Drayton Valley Community Outreach School. This agenda item is scheduled for 1:00pm.

Thank you again for your interest and input regarding this exciting project. 

Sincerely,

Brad Volkman

Superintendent of Schools