Westmount school on time and budget

Okotoks: Division hires new principal

Darlene Casten/OWW

Cynthia Glaicar, the current vice-principal at Oilfields Junior/Senior High School, has been hired as the new principal at Westmount School in Okotoks.

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Okotoks schools are about to have something most of them have not had for several years – space.

Construction at the town’s new school in the Westmount subdivision is on time and budget and is set to open for 700 students who will flood the squeaky clean hallways this fall. The school was built as a public-private partnership between the Province and B2L Partnership. The $253 million deal included 10 schools across the Province. A budget is not assigned to each school. Under the contract B2L must cover the costs if the project goes over budget and would pay a penalty if the school is not built on time.

Foothills School Division principals and vice-principals have toured the Westmount building with division officials, where finishing work is underway.

A principal for the school has been chosen and will be on the job starting at the beginning of April, when the school division will be allowed to begin installing furniture, the sound system and technology, such as smart boards.

Cynthia Glaicar, who is currently the vice-principal at Oilfields Junior/Senior High School in Black Diamond, has been hired as the principal for Westmount School.

“The opportunity to open a school – I thought that was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Glaicar said of her decision to apply for the position. “I get to leave a footprint in Okotoks. This staff will lay the foundation for learning.”

Glaicar was behind the Quest program at Oilfields – a program that includes outdoor adventure and teamwork between staff and students as part of the school curriculum. She said she hopes to find a program with similar elements for Westmount School.

“Quest takes them outside the classroom and working together,” she said. “I have some ideas that translate well for elementary school.”

Glaicar said it will also be important students are involved with their community.

“It should be very collaborative,” she said. “We want to build caring community members.”

Glaicar said she is excited to teach in the new school.

“It is very bright and welcoming,” she said. “The open spaces for learning are amazing. There are big spaces for kids to do collaborative work.”

A vice-principal is expected to be hired this week.

A group of parents have also already mobilized to start fundraising for a playground.

Tannis Dorscht’s son will attend Westmount School and she is leading the drive to have a playground built. She helped on a playground committee while living in Calgary and said she expects they will have to raise around $100,000. Dorscht said depending on the level of support from the community the playground could be in place this fall, but will likely not be built until spring 2013.

“We will be able to get some grant money, but we will have to fundraise a significant amount,” she said.

Dorscht said she plans to ask the Okotoks Bottle Depot if they could set up a program where people could direct their bottle refunds to the Westmount playground. They could also hold bottle drives and home-business fair with companies that have fundraising built in to their business.

Some other parent school councils have offered to loan the Westmount playground fundraising group money to be used to access matching grants. The money would have to be repaid later.

Dorscht said they are having a meeting Feb. 9 and hopes more parents will get involved.

In the meantime, she is looking forward to the school opening and said she has had good experiences at Kindergarten to Grade 9 schools in the past.

“There is a lot of mentorship,” she said. “The little kids have someone to look up to and the big kids look out for the little kids.”

When the school opens this fall, school attendance boundaries across the town will shift.

The school division sent out letters to parents at the end of January informing them what school their child will attend in the coming school year.

Superintendant Denise Rose said the division drew up the new boundaries after consultation with parents and informed them of the final decision close to two years ago.

“We’ve been communicating with the community with this from the beginning,” Rose said.

Students moving into new communities in Drake Landing have already been provided the choice to bus to Percy Pegler School, the school they will be attending this fall.

Rose said school staff has also been given the boundary maps to show parents who are enrolling new students.

She said it is possible some parents have been missed, but believes close to everyone already knows what school their child will attend in the fall.