By Mig29 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=118531571
FORT McMURRAY — Alberta is fast-tracking 41 school projects expected to create or upgrade more than 39,000 student spaces, including the modernization of École Dickinsfield and construction funding for a replacement of Westwood Community High School in Fort McMurray.
The province says 19 projects have been approved for construction funding, while another 22 are moving from planning into the design stage under the Schools Now program.
In Fort McMurray, the École Dickinsfield modernization project is advancing into the design stage.
The Westwood Grade 7-12 Community High School replacement project has been approved for construction funding, moving the long-awaited replacement of the aging school closer to becoming a reality.
Both projects are part of the Fort McMurray Public School Division.
The province says accelerating the projects will cut more than nine months from their development timelines.
The Westwood replacement was among school projects announced in Alberta’s 2025 capital plan, when the province approved planning funding for a replacement school serving students in grades 7 through 12.
Westwood Community High School first opened in 1986 and has undergone additions and renovations during its four decades of operation.
The École Dickinsfield project will modernize the existing elementary school, which serves students from early learning through Grade 6 and offers English and French immersion programming.
Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said accelerating school construction allows students to learn closer to home while helping communities respond to growing enrolment.
“These accelerated school projects will help ensure more families across Alberta have access to a local school in their community,” Nicolaides said.
The projects are being advanced through Alberta’s $8.6-billion Schools Now program, launched in September 2024 to accelerate construction and modernization of schools amid rapid population growth.
The province says more than 90,000 students have entered Alberta’s education system over the past four years.
There are currently 159 active school projects underway across Alberta, with 16 projects completed through Schools Now.
The province expects the program to deliver approximately 200,000 new and modernized student spaces by the 2031-32 school year.
Comments