Mixed reaction from parents following Powell St. school decision

It was a difficult decision that was sure to not please everyone in town. 

On Thursday, Rocky View Schools (RVS) notified parents that the K to 8 Cochrane Christian Academy (CCA) will be moving to the Powell St. school, and a French Immersion (FI) middle school program will be established at Mitford School in September. 

Debbie Wansink's son will be in grade 8 at CCA in the fall.

She said overall she's feeling a sigh of relief that the school community is not being split up but she's concerned about space with the school set to be at overcapacity, and she's concerned about the lack of options for the older students.  

"They tell us that the facility is really not set up for older kids as far as gym space, and more of those options like home economics, band, or a big field."

While I have some concerns, I also think there are major opportunities for the kids, said Wansink.

"Can the school now get involved in the community? There's a church next door that does a weekly community lunch. Can we partner with that church to use it for Home Economics and use their kitchen? Can the kids get involved in serving lunch once a week?"

Allison Denney's daughter is in grade 4 French Immersion at Glenbow and will now be transferring to Mitford School in the fall instead of going to Manachaban. 

"I'm not quite sure how they're going to make it a French Immersion program when they're only transitioning one class at a time. I feel that it's going to be a French Immersion class at an English school, so I'm really interested to see. I did listen to the entire meeting and they promised that they will provide a lot of support to the French Immersion class that's there, but I hope they actually follow through with that."

There will be one grade 5 French Immersion class at Mitford School in the fall, and over the next four years it will grow as new grade 5 students from Glenbow feed into Mitford.

"Immersion means more than just the classroom being French. At Glenbow they've done a great job of having assemblies in French, and French culture week, and doing a lot of other activities in French, so I'm just not sure how that will be the priority of the school for 30 kids," said Denney. 

Tara Baum has two children who attend CCA and said she's trying to remain positive. "I am sad that my kids have to change schools, but the silver lining is they are all together. The best part is we can establish and make this school exactly what we want, and we hope this is all the plan for our kids that it will be the best decision out of a really tough decision that needed to be made. There was no good choice."

Ultimately we still need more schools to be built.

"We have told our kids we will make the best of it. Our teachers and all the students are still together and the community will stay intact, which is what we didn’t want to lose. We wanted our community of faith to stay, while which it is and that is what I think is the most important." said Baum.