All-boys elementary school proposed for Calgary

All-boys elementary schools are again under consideration in Calgary.

Calgarian Karen Wesley and her partner have submitted a proposal to Alberta Education to set up an all-boys charter elementary school.

She said it would allow teachers to cater to boys' interests and specific learning styles.

"I believe that our society is beginning to recognize that there is a need for boys to have a different educational experience to girls," said Wesley, currently an educator at the Foundations for the Future Charter Academy campus in southeast Calgary.

"The way they look at life is very different to girls … if what we're looking at is primary grades, if you're looking at reading, the choices you might make there are action reading, adventure, humour, natural disasters, animals — those are the things that are going to have an appeal for boys. And if they're motivated to read, then they're engaged in the process and you have a much better chance of optimizing their learning."

'I think this year one of his best learning colleagues … is a girl' —David Campden

In the current system, boys lag behind girls in literacy, have higher dropout rates, and are more often enrolled in classes that provide learning supports, she said.

Calgarian dad David Campden said last year, he would have jumped at the chance to put his seven-year-old son in an all-boys classroom, but now he's having second thoughts.

"I think this year one of his best learning colleagues … is a girl," said Campden. "So he's changed quite significantly in a period of 12 months."

Wesley will hold community meetings next month to raise awareness about her plan, which would be to set up a school initially for boys in Grades 1 to 5.

The province has 60 days to tell Wesley whether or not they're accepting her proposal, she said.

Sacred Heart School, a Catholic elementary school in Calgary, split up classes between boys and girls last September.

The Calgary Board of Education is holding two open houses next week to gauge parents' interest in the idea of an all-boys public school.

The CBE open houses are Jan. 24 at Crescent Heights High School from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. MT, and on Jan. 26 at Henry Wise Wood High School from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. MT.

No exact date or location has yet been set for Wesley's meetings.