ATHABASCA - The process to create a separate Catholic school in Athabasca continues, with a meeting planned for June 9 at St. Gabriel’s Roman Catholic Church.
The meeting is required under the Education Act to establish a separate school in the area, but attendees needed to be registered by June 8, whether they wanted to attend in person or via Zoom.
Aspen View Public Schools received notice from Lakeland Catholic School Division and the local petitioners June 1, that they were going forward with a meeting to move the process forward, which Aspen View responded to with a release to state its opposition to conducting the meeting at this time.
“Our community continues to face challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic: parents are exhausted, communities are stretched, finances are tight, the fall is uncertain and anxiety is high, as is family violence and depression,” stated the release. “We do not believe it is appropriate to move this issue forward at a time when the community’s capacity to respond and have input is compromised.”
Aspen View board chair Candy Nikipelo said later in an interview that trustees and the school division recognize the constitutional right of petitioners to explore the establishment of a Catholic school in the Athabasca region, but do disagree with the timing of the meeting, considering all that has been going on.
“We’re just responding to something that could potentially damage the system that we have in the greater Athabasca area, so there is nothing adversarial on our part at all and it has never been about religion,” she said.
Nikipelo said she has registered to attend the meeting with several other trustees, but the school division will not be making a public presentation there, as the Education Act stipulates both parties must hold separate meetings.
She did say Aspen View Supt. Neil O’Shea has had some dialogue with the bishop and with the petitioners to establish whether there was anything the school division could do to satisfy the deficiencies they see in public education. That dialogue is ongoing.
Nikipelo also noted the two elementary schools in Athabasca are the only two left in the division that still provide religious instruction, which continues to be very well-received, although she acknowledges times have changed.
“We would still like to work with them. We’re better together. Hopefully some of those suggestions will come out in the meeting on Tuesday,” she said.
The biggest issue, of course, is future funding, and Nikipelo and the school division have concerns about how that will be distributed should a Catholic school be approved.
“It’s tough in a small town. Especially in a small town were enrolment is declining and we’re trying to keep our schools as healthy as possible. I can’t even imagine what that challenge would be if we had another school system established,” she said.
“Dollars are taken out of the existing schools … and the pie doesn’t get any bigger. You’re just dividing the dollars into another area.”
Nikipelo said she encourages residents to attend meetings as they are held and to contribute with respectful dialogue. If there are concerns, they are urged to reach out to the Minister of Education Adriana LaGrange and Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken.
