ANCHOR’S AWAY LLOYD ROBERTSON PREPARES FOR HIS FINAL NEWSCAST {page 13}
CALGARY
PRIVATE SPEARS SAYS SHE GUARDS PERSONAL LIFE
{page 14}
Tuesday, August 30, 2011 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing.
All-boys school less than half full
Flame. Goes out
80 students to attend Administration had planned for possibility of 200: Emails JEREMY NOLAIS
@METRONEWS.CA
Bells will ring this week to usher in students at Calgary’s new allboys school, but some expected more to be in attendance. In all, 80 kids from kindergarten to Grade 5 will learn through the alternative program at Sir James Lougheed School — barely more than the 70 kids that attended the facility when Calgary Board of Education (CBE) trustees voted to close its regular program in the spring, said area representative Sheila Taylor. “What we had been told at the board was that the numbers would be higher than that, and I would hope that the numbers would grow significantly higher than that over time,” said Taylor, who has raised questions about whether introducing alternative programs is appropriate during difficult fiscal planning years. To offset a nearly $62-million budget shortfall, trustees voted to
eliminate 331 jobs, including about 170 frontline teachers, in June. Projections indicate the CBE could face further uncertainty in the years ahead, including an $85.3-million shortfall in 2013-14. When the all-boys school was originally unveiled in April, CBE officials said 200 parents had expressed interest in it, and emails obtained by Metro suggest administration had planned for the possibility of that many students. “We could have accommodated that number,” said spokesperson Joanne Ramondt. “The expectation is, of course, that enrolment will grow over time.” Larry Leach, president of the Association for Responsive Trusteeship in Calgary Schools, said the idea behind the school is fine, but he questioned the board’s timing. “You want to have the resources for them to be successful,” he said. “To start them out in a poor budget year probably isn’t forward thinking.”
Daymond Langkow of the Calgary Flames skates during a game in 2010 against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place. Langkow is going to the Phoenix Coyotes for winger Lee Stempniak. Story, page 21. PHILLIP MACCALLUM/GETTY IMAGES
Langkow heads to the desert