As CBE takes steps to close National Sport School, parents seek new school board to host program

The future of the Calgary Board of Education's National Sport School is up for discussion yet again, but parents say they've got a potential solution on the horizon.

Parents and students will have their say Wednesday evening at a virtual meeting hosted by the CBE trustees about the school's proposed closure.

The high school is home to nearly 200 high-performance athletes, but the CBE has recommended closing it — because of soaring costs.

This isn't the first time the school board has proposed closing the specialty school.

Kevin Barr, a member of the Parents and Friends of the National Sport School, said the CBE announced about a year ago it was going to initiate the closure process.

"There was a great deal of public consultation," he said.

• Calgary's National Sport School stays at Winsport for another year, says CBE

In January, the CBE presented two options being considered for the future of the facility. Both options would have seen the students leave WinSport at Canada Olympic Park and either end up together at nearby Bowness High School or at their individual designated high schools.

That meeting ended when some parents stormed out — saying the CBE was forcing the closure of their school without even considering their ideas to save it.

"Then in [spring] of this year, they advised parents that they were going to keep the National Sport School at WinSport under the CBE umbrella for another year," said Barr. "And then earlier this year, we were advised that the CBE was about to commence the closure process again."

Barr said a year under the CBE umbrella was what NSS families needed in order to begin working on a long-term solution for the school. 

"We're supportive of the closure process being initiated, and we attended that public trustees' meeting a few weeks ago to indicate that we were in agreement with the closure process being initiated, so that we could try to get the school transition to an alternative school board."

Barr, who has 16-year-old daughter (a golfer) who attends NSS, said the goal is to keep the school operating out of WinSport no matter which school board they operate under.

Jaida Lacombe, a Grade 11 student and figure skater, said being at the WinSport campus is the biggest benefit to students in the program. 

"National Sport School campus is definitely more unique than, I'd say, any other school within Calgary. Not only do we have a bunch of the resources there, like the physiotherapy and the counselling and a bunch of offices for the Canadian teams, everything is there and it's a very sport-oriented environment," she said.

WinSport is also home to the Performance Training Centre, which hosts elite trainers and elite athletes, as well as a plethora of sport facilities.

"We have the arenas right there for kids like me — the figure skaters and the hockey players and even speed skaters. There's also the ski hill that's right there for the skiers and snow boarders, which take up the large majority of our school," said Lacombe.

"At COP, we have everything we need, and if we were sent to somewhere like Bowness, we don't have what we need there. That's just your typical high school that's not suited for national athletes."

Jaida's mom, Sandi Lacombe, said she's a bit wary about the virtual meeting Wednesday evening. 

"I don't know if our questions will be addressed. I don't know if the CBE will just try and shut us down like they did at the last meeting, which was, of course, in person. But I suspect that it would be easier to shut us down from the virtual meeting," she said.

"There is no negotiating, unfortunately, with the Calgary Board of Education, and that's been a huge downfall in this whole process, too, because they don't hear us. They don't listen.… They want us all to just go away and be quiet. That's the feeling I get."

Sandi Lacombe said if the school were to remain under CBE operation and students were moved to Bowness, it would have a negative impact on the education of the athletes as the board has made it clear it would not provide transportation between Bowness HIgh School and WinSport.

"Most of her day's class time is going to be spent traveling back and forth to WinSport. The upside of WinSport, of course, is that everything these kids need to train is already out there, so they don't have that downtime," the mother said.

Barr said parents and advocates for the school have met with at least one other school board to discuss adopting the school. 

"Nothing agreed to as yet. There's a whole bunch of steps that need to happen," he said.

With her daughter set to graduate next year, Sandi Lacombe said she's hopeful for a solution that allows the students to remain at WinSport. 

"Jaida wants nothing more than to graduate next year from National Sport School, and she, like pretty much all of the athletes, is a very proud member of the student body there and feels that that school is very, very special to her and to all the kids," she said.

"The lifestyle of a competitive athlete is a lot different than your average kids that are maybe doing other things or involved in other activities. They live, breathe, sleep and eat their sport. They train very hard throughout their day, through early mornings and evenings. But even throughout the school day, they are training. And that's why we are so opposed to closing the school, because it caters very well to to athletes, whether they're going to the Olympics or not."

Barr said he recently looked at the press release that the CBE and WinSport issued in April of 2011, when the school was moved from Earnest Manning. It stressed the importance of personalized learning, he said.

"And that's really the crux of what we're asking of the CBE and the public school trustees: to continue to recognize the value of the NSS for these student athletes. These student athletes are students first, but it really is an opportunity to pursue their passion for sport without compromising their education."