Plans for the replacement of Peace Wapiti Academy are moving ahead, as the Peace Wapiti Public School Division and the County of Grande Prairie are working together to finalize plans for a new high school to be built in Clairmont.
Peace Wapiti Public School Division Board Chair Lori Grant says while there are steps to complete, including the finalization of the Area Structure Plan, having the funding in place from the provincial government and being able to move forward with tangible planning is a huge step for the division. She says it’s also great news for future PWA students, as the current school location presents a bit of a tight squeeze.
“We have been after this as our number one capital priority for several years,” Grant says. “It’s overcrowded and has been for a number of years and this will allow us to move our school where the majority of our residents that populate it come from.”
Grant says while it may mean potentially a little longer bus rides for some students, many will no longer have to be transported through the City of Grande Prairie to make it to class. It’s something she believes will benefit many of the students who already live on the edge of the county boundary.
“It’s a huge population base in the Whispering Ridge area in that whole end of the county, and the growth potential is huge there as well. We are going to be able to take some of the load off of our current Whispering Ridge Community School shortly, as they are overutilized,” she adds.
Despite a fair amount of work still to be done, Grant says a best-case scenario would see shovels in the ground for the new school as early as 2024.
“We’ve got to get the area structure plan approved and from there we work on utilities with the county to get the utilities right to the property line and we take it from there,” she says.
“If we have all that in place next year, we should be able to move quickly through the process to start the build,” she adds.
