Residents of Lac La Biche can put in their two cents on the Bold Center High School in public consultations that will take place throughout the region this month.
Nicole Garner, media liaison for the Northern Lights School Division, said the community consultations will give residents their say on what programs and facilities the schools should offer and how the school should look.
“The community has a say in it—it’s an 800 student school, which is built to accommodate the growth in the region over the next 20 years,” she said. “It’s all about the vision the community has for their community, and how the school fits into that.”
The first public meeting will take place at 7:30 p.m. on July 19 at Craigend Hall, where residents will be asked to fill out a survey regarding the high school’s learning environment, social spaces, technology, physical features, school programming and amenities.
All portions of the survey are rated on a scale of very important, important and not important.
Each section of the survey also has a comment box where people can put in their own suggestions that the survey doesn’t cover.
Garner said representatives from the Lac La Biche High School Steering Committee – the committee dedicated to the high school’s development – will be available during the one-hour long community consultation session to answer any questions and concerns from the public.
There will not be a formal presentation at the consultation, but a facilitator will be present to walk residents through any progress or ideas put forward so far.
Other meetings throughout the region include Rich Lake on July 20, Plamondon on July 21, Owl River on July 25 or 26 (still pending), and at the Bold Center on July 27.
The Bold Center High School is one of the 35 high school infrastructure projects adopted by the province this year. According to the Alberta Education website, the provincial government invested $550 million to renovate or build new schools to upgrade infrastructure and provide the appropriate facilities for learning like sciences, art and technology studies.
Any residents who are unable to attend the meetings can still complete the survey online at: www.nlsd.ab.ca.
Lac La Biche’s new high school has a projected completion date for 2014.
