Airdrie’s Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church has a little over 10 months to sign up 30 students for a Program of Choice in the city or else their starter school will be scrapped.
If successful, Rocky View Schools could soon have another school within a school, similar to Cochrane Christian Academy, which operates inside of Mitford Middle School in Cochrane.
The proposed Lutheran school is planned to operate out of Airdrie’s yet-to-be-completed school in Williamstown in the city’s northwest. The long-term goal is to grow the program to a K-8 setup. The school in Williamstown is expected to open in September 2012.
On Feb. 3, representatives from the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church presented the Christian program to the board.
“The purpose of Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran program is to provide a learning environment that promotes the view that all life is sustained by the grace of God,” said Shawna Neis, program commission chair at the February meeting. “Education of the whole child is best achieved by integrating the Christian faith into every aspect of life and learning.”
Trustees at the June 16 board meeting expressed reservations about current space crunches in Airdrie and openly debated the merits of adding a Program of Choice in the burgeoning city.
“We finally have new schools and I think that a reasonable question from our public is: how are we expected to serve an area that is already beyond capacity, even with the new schools?” said rural Cochrane and Bearspaw Trustee Colleen Munro.
Airdrie Trustee Sylvia Eggerer agreed with Munro.
“If they’re (students) coming from outside that could be creating an extra problem in an already problem area,” she said.
But Superintendent of Schools Greg Bass assured the board that time and forethought had gone into the decision and said it wasn’t a “shoot from the hip decision.”
In the end, all trustees supported the program. Ward 4 Trustee Helen Clease was absent.
The next step for the Protestant group will be an open house to gauge public interest along with posting information online and handing out leaflets followed by registration nights in the fall.
If successful, the program would begin September 2012.
