The Grande Yellowhead Regional Division board will decide on March 1 whether or not to proceed with a shared facility alongside Ecole Desroches, Jasper parents, educators and students were told Monday evening.

“I’ve been at this now for seven months and I can’t think of a better way to do this,” said Jasper board trustee Gilbert Wall, who was on hand along with francophone board representative Laurent Bolduc and officials from both the GYRD and the Conseil Scolaire Centre-Nord to answer questions from the public.

The facility review report that both boards have received as information recommends that a joint facility be built as part of a modernization of Jasper Junior/Senior High School. This plan would see the current gymnasium expand to take in the existing change rooms and music room, with the music class being relocated to the south of the gym. A small addition would be built south of the current Industrial Arts area to provide space for two additional classrooms for Jasper Jr/Sr High, while an addition to the east would be built for Ecole Desroches. Each school would have separate entrances and with the exception of the gymnasium, music room and science lab, could operate as two independent facilities within the same building.

The total cost for this proposal, including the full modernization of the existing high school facility, is estimated at $13,711,713. Known as Option B, this is the plan preferred by local representatives for both boards.

“It’s the best, as in the best facility option, the best school option and the best community option,” said Wall.

The joint public meeting opened with several in the room wondering why a plebiscite was not planned as part of the decision-making process. Wall said a broad vote is not an option.

“I don’t see the need for it and I’m not even prepared to go there,” he said afterwards. “Simply, that’s why I was elected in the first place, to negate the need for a plebiscite.”

Wall said that he was not surprised by the concerns raised and comments made by the students and parents who seemed less-than-convinced that a shared facility would be the best option.

“I’m still convinced that the positives outweigh the concerns,” he said. Although the meeting facilitators had provided a putative agenda for the meeting, it was soon forgotten amidst a lengthy discussion of whether or not senior high students and elementary-aged pupils would have to interact in the hallways.

“As a senior high student, it’s not a good situation when you have young kids dealing with these kind of adult issues,” one student said. Board officials and educators that were present suggested that any interaction would be highly controlled and kept to a minimum, and expressed doubts that it would be a significant problem.

“It is a small issue,” CSCN representative Laurent Bolduc said of the age question. “It does not weigh enough in the balance to overcome the benefits we would get,” he concluded. 

The topic of discussion continued to focus on logistical concerns and programming questions, important elements, but well beyond the scope of the current decision, Wall said.

“It’s just a facility plan,” he said at one point, trying to inspire comments on the particulars of the joint-use facility. There is still some room to maneuver with the floor plan that has been recommended, he said.

“The square meterage for the two schools can’t be altered, but elements are tweakable,” he said. “To what extent would that be possible, I’m not sure.”

Despite his best efforts, and a few comments and questions that did deal with the physical structure of a future high school building, Wall was left frustrated before long.

“To go into this and dig our heels in just because, doesn’t work,” he said. “If kids and educators were to come to us and say this won’t work, this is insane, then we’ll tweak it,” he added, emphasizing that he has not heard that sort of comment.

“It will work and I have no qualms about that.” 

This seemed to provide an opening for those in the room who support the concept of working cooperatively to speak out in favour, as several did to loud applause.

Henri Lemire, the regional superintendent for the francophone board who had made the trip from Edmonton, observed that most of the discussion had focused on logistics, something that would be dealt with down the line if a joint proposal was submitted to the province and accepted.

“There will be an agreement that will speak to how you share spaces and times,” he said.

After the meeting came to an end, many of the 70 or so in attendance hung around to continue their discussions and Wall expressed some disapointment in the way the meeting had proceeded.

“I was hoping that with more information in the community, with more good information, there would be less negativity in the room towards this project,” he said. “I would much rather that people who have a real problem with this particular route come up with a route that accomplishes the same goals as this. That would be fine, but the status quo is not working.”