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A north Edmonton public school will temporarily relocate 170 Grade 8 students to start the school year because of damage caused by a July storm.
An Edmonton Public Schools official announced the plan Wednesday for Grade 8 students at Killarney Junior High School. The official said that the decision follows significant flooding and damage from a July 15 storm, and that parents were notified of the relocation last week.
The storm tore off a portion of the school’s roof, causing flooding in multiple classrooms. Edmonton Public Schools said that after the storm passed, it immediately began assessing the damage and started cleanup and restoration work on the building.
The school division said the northwest two-storey section of the school suffered the worst of the damage.
Christopher Wright, acting chief infrastructure and technology officer for Edmonton Public Schools, spoke about the plan for Killarney students at a news conference Wednesday. He said that while damage is still being assessed throughout the building, there are at least 12 classrooms that won’t be ready for the start of school in September.
WATCH | Killarney Junior High School to temporarily relocate Grade 8 students:
Some middle school students in Edmonton are temporarily moving schools
Earlier this Summer, Killarney Junior High School suffered significant damage to its building following a storm. While most students will be back in the classroom for the start of the year, that’s not the case for all of the kids attending. The CBC’s Tristan Mottershead reports.
“We are just, at this point, assessing damage,” said Wright. “Of course that will take time to determine the exact scope.
“We’ll be working through the fall to determine cost and the exact timing of repairs.”
Wright said the school division hopes to have Grade 8 students back at Killarney by the winter break.
The 170 students who cannot attend Killarney Junior High School will be temporarily relocated to Hardisty School until restoration of the roof and classrooms can be completed.
Hardisty School is in the Fulton Place neighbourhood, roughly a 15-minute drive from Killarney.
In a news release issued Wednesday, Edmonton Public Schools said Hardisty was chosen because it is the closest school with the current capacity to accommodate the large number of students Killarney needs to relocate.
Wright explained why all Grade 8 students are being moved as opposed to some students from different grades.
“We know Grade 7s are just coming into their junior high journey, and we know that Grade 9s are wrapping up their junior high journey and getting ready for high school,” he said.
“It was important for us to keep kids together.”
How relocation will work
Wright said Hardisty and Killarney parents will work with school staff to determine the specifics of Grade 8 programming.
Grade 8 Killarney students will move as a cohort and take classes with their classmates and teachers from Killarney.
“This doesn’t draw down on our resources or anything at Hardisty,” said Wright.
Last year, Hardisty School had a total enrolment of about 462 students in grades K-9. Killarney Junior High School had 553 students in grades 7-9.
Edmonton Public Schools said it will provide free busing from Killarney to Hardisty to ensure flexible transportation for Killarney students.
“We know that our school staff are experienced with this,” said Wright. “They’re going to be looking to communicate and reach out to families and help with any other sort of supports and transitions.
“Our primary objective is to have those repairs done, have Killarney returned to normal operations as soon as possible.”