There is good news that needs to be mentioned on the fight to preserve existing schools in mature neighbourhoods. Older Schools in mature neighbourhoods have been given priority over the development of new schools to upgrade and renovate them.

I have included a link to the EPSB and Edmonton Journal articles for everyone to read.

Edmonton Journal Article 1

Edmonton Journal Article 2

EPSB Article

Currently there is a two year moratorium in place on School closures in mature neighbourhoods.    

Please remember the EPSB and the City Of Edmonton need our feedback and assistance by participating in the moratorium meetings and workshops they have setup over the next few months.

Now is not the time to rest on this School Closure issue but to pursue this issue until all local schools are saved and restored. Without local schools our neighbourhoods are not sustainable, local business is affected negatively and our neighbourhoods become less healthy and attractive for new family's to want to live in.

By supporting your local school you are supporting an active, healthy, vibrant community that will flourish and prosper.

Trustees want to hear from you!

Meeting dates and locations

The EFCL is reporting that they are working with the School Board on the School Closure issue. I have copied the article from their website for your convenience. Please use the comments section to voice your opinion on the issue. Every opinion counts and will not go unnoticed.

The EFCL is entering discussions with the Edmonton Public School Board on the controversial issue of school closures. Last fall, the school board agreed to a two-year moratorium on school closures, after the federation and many members of the public expressed their dissatisfaction with the current review process. It appeared to the EFCL that not enough focus was being placed on ways to keep schools open and viable.

The federation fully recognizes that this is a very difficult issue. The bottom line to much of this is the declining numbers of young families in mature neighborhoods, which is an issue the federation is reviewing in concert with the city‘s recently-announced Community Revitalization task force.

The federation is hosting a meeting with the public school board on April 19 to kick start discussions on this topic. Meanwhile, the federation is also attempting to meet with the Minister of Education to promote community usage of any new schools that are built. A number of our newer leagues are looking at sharing space, rather than building a hall and the local school is an obvious option.

Westglen School, 1945. Photo supplied by City of Edmonton Archives, EA-38-5.

Edmonton was struggling to climb out of the depression of the 1930s and war had been declared in Europe, and yet the Edmonton Public School Board managed to scrape together the money and resources to build a much-needed school. It was to be one of only two the board built during the years of the depression; nearby Glenora School was the other.

The 1940 decision to construct Westglen High followed years of lobbying by the local community and specifically the powerful Westmount Community League. It came on the heels of three referendums where taxpayers had refused a new high school, even though they were desperately overcrowded and classes were being double-shifted.

The school board had already pushed through a pay cut of between four and 16 per cent for all teachers and administrators making more than $1,200 per annum. The money saved was to go to support unemployed married men through the Contributions to Unemployment Relief (CUR) Fund.

In their book Edmonton’s West Side Story, Shirley Lowe and Lori Yanish noted that there was speculation that the CUR Fund never reached its intended destination, but was siphoned into the school board’s building fund. “Whatever the case, in April of 1940, the Edmonton Public School Board paid Mr. G.G. Harman $4,000 for five acres between 127 and 129 Streets and 109 and 109A Avenues.”

For years afterwards, teachers held the belief that they took salary cuts and the Board hid the money in reserve and used it to build schools. “They pulled a fast one on us,” retired teacher and principal Walter Stewart said in 1980.

The renowned local architectural firm of Rule Wynn & Rule was commissioned to design Westglen High. They chose a new-to-Edmonton modern art deco style with simple, clean lines that reflected, as Lowe and Yanish put it, “a new, less oppressive attitude toward education.”

With so many Edmontonians out of work, hundreds applied and preference was given to holders of Blue Cards issued by the Civic Employment Bureau. Overseen by contractor G.H. MacDonald, work progressed rapidly and Westglen was ready in just six months. The first classes were conducted on November 18, 1940.

Westmount High School was closed down and the students were moved into Westglen at 10950 127th Street. The staff of 12 teachers and one caretaker were led by John George Niddrie, who had been the principal at Westmount.

Niddrie, who grew up on a ranch near Morley, Alberta, had a reputation for being tough but fair. He was a teacher and principal for more than 50 years, and in 1988 the city named a small park at 12707 111th Avenue in his honour.

The formal opening of the school was held in the auditorium on Friday, November 29th, 1940, attended by 1,500 students, parents and residents. A.E. Ottewell, Chairman of the School Board, told the gathering that after a much checkered history the project had delivered one of the most up-to-date schools in the province. Performances by the Glee Club, individual students and the Edmonton Schoolboys’ Band rounded out the evening.

“The new Westglen High School building is the physical expression of teaching needs and teaching practices,” stated the program printed to commemorate the event. “This beauteous streamlined edifice betokens the latest developments of education for this continent.”

The two-storey building was clad with brick and stucco. “Its deep ivory colored stucco facing, which is something new in Edmonton, has proven very satisfactory in other places, and at the same time gives the building a unique beauty,” the program said.

The new school contained 12 classrooms, science laboratory, large library room, principal's office with separate waiting room, study room, art room, staff rooms, medical inspection room, lavatories, shower rooms, and boiler rooms. “An outstanding feature of the school is a large auditorium and gymnasium connected with the main part of the school by two corridors in which are located 428 lockers," the program said. “The lockers are easily accessible, not only to pupils as they move from one classroom to another, but also as they enter and leave the auditorium.”

Measuring 90 feet long and 56 feet wide, the ground-floor gym at the centre of the building was large enough for championship basketball games. As an auditorium, it had a seating capacity of 1,200. “At the west end of the auditorium has been built a fine stage 27 feet deep and about 56 feet wide, designed for the teaching of dramatics, orchestra work and glee club work,” the program reported.

“The auditorium is not only an ideal place in which the pupils may assemble for school functions, but will also provide accommodation for the boys' and girls' physical training, now admitted to be an integral part of a secondary education,” it said.

Coal was chosen as the heat source over natural gas. "The ventilating system is the exhaust type in which a fan exhausts vitiated air through ducts," the program said. "Home-making and general shop accommodation, two necessary features, have been temporarily omitted but the building is so planned that these units can be added at a later date.”

Early graduating classes started a tradition of planting trees in the school yard, with one planted each year. By 1957, Westglen was too small to accommodate the rapidly growing student population in what was then called the "West End," and all the senior high students were transferred to the new Ross Sheppard High School.

Then Westglen became an elementary and junior high school. In the 1960s, growth in student numbers necessitated the addition of six portables.

In 1968, the school board’s plans to pare the school back to only elementary classes were met with intense opposition from the community. But they pushed ahead with the plan in 1970, and the junior high students were transferred to Westmount School.

Enrollment at Westglen declined in the 1970s and in 1987 reached an all-time low of 176 students before rebounding. Twenty years ago, the school's exterior was restored with a new coat of stucco.

Westglen has produced some of Edmonton’s best known and most influential citizens. They include Senator Tommy Banks, former provincial cabinet minister Lou Hyndman, former city councillor Helen Paull, and judges Mel Binder and Tevie Miller.

Seventy years after it opened its doors, the proud tradition endures. Today Westglen is one of Edmonton’s beloved community schools, and a leader in environmental education.

Original Link

To the Trustees of the Edmonton Public School Board
c/o David Colburn, Chair
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Dear Trustees,

We, the undersigned representatives of school councils, community leagues and other community organizations, call upon the Edmonton Public School Board to adopt a moratorium on further school closures.

Closures result in hardships faced by students and their families.  They also hurt communities and property values, as residents with children face a strong incentive to move out of neighbourhoods without schools. Maintaining the buildings, without childrens schooling, does not solve these problems.

We understand that the Board faces financial pressures; however, school closures are not an acceptable solution.

We call on the Board to adopt a moratorium immediately, and then to initiate a process that engages the municipal and provincial governments, and other stakeholders, to develop acceptable solutions.

Yours truly,
 

David Thompson President, Westmount Community League This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Name Position Organization Contact Information

Sector Review - Participate in a Workshop

What will participants do?

This is a “hands on” workshop where you will review the input to date and the facts and data and propose options on how to move forward in ways that address these issues. You can work through the details in a group or on your own, and Edmonton Public School representatives will be on hand as an additional resource.

When and where are the workshops?

The workshops are “drop in” format – you attend at the best time for you and stay as long as you can.

Central Sector

Please note: Due to construction, there is a shortage of parking at Victoria School.

Tuesday, September 21
4:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Monday, October 4
4:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Queen Elizabeth School Cafeteria
9425 - 132 Avenue

Victoria School of the Arts North Gym
10210 - 108 Avenue

South Central Sector

Thursday, September 23
4:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Tuesday, October 5
4:00 pm – 9:00 pm

McNally School Library
8440 - 105 Avenue

Vimy Ridge Academy Gym
8205 - 90 Avenue

West 1 Sector

Saturday, September 25
9:00 am – 1:30 pm

Saturday, October 9
9:00 am – 1:30 pm

Jasper Place School East Gym
8950 - 163 Street

Ross Sheppard School Small Gym (South)
13546 - 111 Avenue
 
Click Here for PDF

Formed in 1919, Westmount is one of the oldest community leagues in Edmonton. Over the decades the league’s volunteers have built and maintained facilities, organized and participated in activities that have enhanced the quality of life for its residents. The people involved are fun and creative; if you would like to join us, see “The Board” page for more information.

Westmount stretches from the river valley edge south of Jasper Avenue up to 111 Avenue, and from Groat Road across to 121 Street (124 Street south of Stony Plain Road). See the map below.

The history of the Westmount area, from the 1800’s on, can be read in “Edmonton’s West Side Story,” available from the 124 Street and Area BRZ.

Development in Westmount is governed by the Groat Estate Implementation Plan in the south, and the West Ingle Area Redevelopment Plan in the North.

Neighbourhood maps and the Plans are available from the City of Edmonton.

Source: http://maps.edmonton.ca

If you have a story of interest to the residents of the Westmount Community, please consider sharing it through the newsletter, "The Westmount Window".

Forward your stories to the Editor.

For more information on The City of Edmonton, The Westmount Neighbourhood or other community leagues please see these links:

Edmonton Wiki

Westmount Wiki
Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues
Downtown Edmonton