Elementary school that may close is 'critically' important to inner city, say parents

A historic inner-city Catholic elementary school is being considered for closure but parents fighting to save it say its location caters to families who work downtown.

The elementary school held an engagement session Tuesday evening so parents could brainstorm ideas and ptich questions to trustees as part of the district's "Help Plan Our Future" public participation process.

The initiative gathered school stakeholders, parents and facilitators from the district to have conversations about Catholic schools in Calgary. It was held after the Calgary Catholic School District passed a motion earlier this month to look into closing two underutilized K-6 schools, St. Angela and St. Gerard.

Felicia Zuniga, a senior communication specialist with the school district, says the information gathered at the meeting will play a key role in helping the board make a decision about St. Angela's future.

But the tipping point for the school, she says, could be a matter of resources — and being too small to continue.

There are only 117 students and six classrooms at St. Angela, and Zuniga said larger Catholic schools are better equipped to offer a breadth of extracurricular, athletic and academic opportunities that simply aren't viable at such a small location.

"We're looking at it academically, we're looking at the costs. There's a lot of factors that go into it," Zuniga said.

Designation valuable for inner-city families

The school faced closure consideration in 2009, but the district worked with the community on solutions, and St. Angela became a designated "workplace school."

Located in Bridgeland, it caters to parents across Calgary who work downtown and want their children to attend a school close to their workplace.

It also has before and after school care, which makes its designation "tremendously valuable," say parents.

Karina Pena, whose son is in Grade 6 at St. Angela, is also a social work student at Bow Valley College.

She said the school's location is incredibly convenient for her, and allows her to be in close proximity in case of emergencies. 

"I think that the school has to be advertising more. People need to know," Pena said.

"And I know many people that live and work downtown that don't have any idea that the school is here."

Laurie Stretch is a parent who said her children went to school at St. Angela years ago.

She was there when it became a designated workplace school in 2009, and attended Tuesday's meeting because she is "distressed" that it might be closed.

"It's a critically important school for an inner-city community," Stretch said.

"I'm concerned about the process, because … they're not looking at it from a City of Calgary perspective, where we're trying to increase density, and we're trying to increase walkable, complete communities."

School's small size asset for high-needs children

Pena says St.Angela's small class sizes have provided her son — who has ADHD — the time and attention he needs.

"The teachers have been amazing. He has all the support with extra teachers, extra time, and the fact that it is a small school, it's more personalized. We know that in a bigger school, that's not going to happen," Pena said.

This was echoed by Stretch, who said the school's smaller classes were invaluable.

"The school board is treating the small size of this school as a disadvantage … [but] for some children, a small school where everybody knows everybody is an incredible learning advantage," Stretch said.

"I had a learning-disabled child for whom the community feeling here was of tremendous value for him."

'A decision that works for everyone'

"I think parents are, for sure, emotional. And we never want to close down a school. A school is the heart of a community," Zuniga said.

"But we're trying to make a decision that works for everyone."

If the school does close, students will finish out the year until June and then be reassigned to the closest Catholic school in their community, said Zuniga.

The final decision on both schools is expected to be announced at a board meeting on April 8.