LAC LA BICHE - With the designs now in place for a new building to replace Lac La Biche’s 52-year-old Vera M. Welsh Elementary School, officials with Northern Lights Public Schools (NLPS) are waiting to get started on the construction phase of the project.
Nicole Garner, the communications and public relations manager for NLPS, said the school division’s board of trustees is continuing to advocate to get approval for funding for a new school as soon as possible.
Garner said there are two avenues to do this. The first one is through the regular provincial budget announcement that is expected in March and usually includes some school infrastructure announcements. The other option, according to Garner, is by way of the new provincial School Accelerator Program. This program, she said, allows projects to be approved out of the regular budget cycle if they are ready to move to the next stage.
“In the case of Vera M. Welsh, we are now ready to move from the design stage to the construction stage,” she told Lakeland This Week.
A new school building to replace Vera M. Welsh Elementary School has been on the board’s capital plan for over 20 years. According to information from NLPS, previously, it was included in a design scope aimed at exploring a “Lac La Biche solution” for school infrastructure needs.
Design funding for a new building was approved in 2023. A site located next to the Bold Centre was approved during a meeting of Lac La Biche County council in September 2023 and finalized in April 2024.
The aging facility, Garner explains, has an underground spring running through the lower mechanical room. The building is also located near the railway tracks where hazardous chemicals pass by on their way to oil and gas sites. She continued by saying the five-year deferred maintenance costs are $11.8 million.
Garner explained the capacity of the current Vera. M. Welsh Elementary School is 620. This number, she said, is considered underutilized. The new school will be “right sized” to enrolment, and, as a result, will be smaller than the current school.
“However, the plans include the potential of adding up to four portables at a later date to accommodate growth,” Garner says.
In January, NLPS released information highlighting the design plan of the new Vera M. Welsh Elementary School.
The design includes features such as a learning commons that opens into a gathering area, a stage that folds into the school’s gymnasium wall, as well as viewing windows for parents to observe gym activities.
The building will also have a dedicated music room along with a servery, which is a service alcove between the kitchen and dining room, to support the school’s lunch program.
The school will feature 11 classrooms, all of which will be equipped with sinks, while kindergarten rooms will include water tables to support hands-on learning.
There are also two sensory rooms to support the needs of students.
NLPS has a partnership with Lac La Biche County to create a parking lot for staff that will also serve as overflow parking for the new aquatic centre being built at the Bold Centre, which is expected to open in 2026. As stated by NLPS, this will allow for more exterior space to be used for outdoor learning activities and a playground.
The parking lot will include the infrastructure to add six EV charging stations in the future, when there is a demand for that service.
The safety of students arriving and leaving the new school has also been kept in mind.
“Safety and traffic flow have been prioritized with a separate bus loading and unloading area, a designated parent drop-off zone, and visitor parking to reduce congestion and ensure student safety,” says NLPS.
Karen Packard, chair of the NLPS board of trustees, said the school division is hopeful that funding approval will be part of the provincial government’s budget announcements this spring, or approved shortly afterwards through the School Capital Accelerator program.
“With the design stage complete, the next step is securing construction funding from Alberta Education to approve us for funding for construction so the project can go to tender,” says Packard.
Packard continued by saying that officials are excited to move onto the next phase of this project, and closer to having a new elementary school for the school division’s students and families in Lac La Biche.
“We would like to thank our students, parents, staff and community for being so supportive and patient as we have advocated for this project,” she said. “We look forward to celebrating a new school with you soon.”
