West Coulee Station Elementary School is currently under construction in west Lethbridge.
This week, the Lethbridge School Division announced it was encouraged by the province’s commitment to boost the amount of capital money towards school construction in the province.
Division Associate Superintendent of Business and Operations Christine Lee says the school, once completed, will alleviate pressure from Mike Mountain Horse Elementary School in north Lethbridge. “This is welcome news and needed right away. It will open in September 2025. In our capital plan, we’ve requested another new elementary school in south Lethbridge. That will take the pressure off areas such as Coalbanks Elementary School and Dr. Probe Elementary School.”
Currently, Lee adds, Division schools have several modular classrooms to alleviate classroom space. “Those schools have pressure in the core spaces, which is their gymnasiums, learning commons and hallways. We need to remove some of those pressures by adding a new elementary school. We’re expecting west Lethbridge to continue to grow at a very fast pace. A new elementary school will be welcome, if announced for us at some point by the government.”
“We also need a new high school in west Lethbridge. Chinook High School is our only high school in west Lethbridge. Currently, we’re busing 400 students a day over to the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute in south Lethbridge, so we can keep the school a reasonable size. But again, with the growth we’re anticipating in west Lethbridge in the coming years, we will need another high school,” Lee notes.
The Division is most likely looking at an additional 300 to 400 students heading into elementary school in the next seven years, says Lee. “So, we’ll need another school for that growth.”
Another estimated 700 additional high school students could be possible when growth continues into 2030 or 2040.
Lee says the Division also undertook a study of west Lethbridge. “We hired a consultant to do that work for us. That report will be out soon. It’s just in its final stages. That study does back up the need for our new elementary school in west Lethbridge, as well as a new high school. That data is very important for us. Once that report is final and presented to our Board of Trustees, we’ll be submitting to Alberta Education, which provides the business case for the new schools we need in the city.”
