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Vol. 20, No. 27, Wednesday, April 9, 2025 www.LamontLeader.com
New charter school in Andrew now expecting over 100 students enrolled for inaugural September opening BY JANA SEMENIUK Andrew Rural Academy, a new K-12 charter school, opening this fall in Andrew, appeared as a delegation to Lamont County Council members on Apr. 1, giving an update on their progress which included a staggering number of enrollments expected, to support their Jan. request for funding. The school made a request at the county’s Jan. 14 council meeting for $50,000 to assist in hiring a superintendent, which the council delayed until the official charter was approved. After the charter was approved Mar. 5, the council again decided to wait to see if the school could fulfill the conditions of their charter approval which included proof the school building complies with health, safety and fire standards, have at least the number of enrolments required for viability, and appoint a superintendent as well as a secretary-treasurer. ARA project manager Stan Zabrick said, at the meeting, that the school has surpassed their initial expectation of 87 students to now over 100. “We will be past the 87 number. In fact, it's looking like we will open the
“We're in operation now. We're no longer an application. It's go time...” Stan Zabrick school in the 100 to 105 student range at this point,” he said. Zabrick explained that prior to the school having an official approval from the Province, they could only take parent declarations of enrollment intention to get an estimate of their numbers. He said that since the approval letter was received Mar. 5, they have been working to convert the declarations to official enrollments, and added that walk-in enrollments, that were not in the initial declarations, are also being received daily. Zabrick said there have been a few surprises of where the interest in attending the school is coming from and how bussing will be arranged.
“We thought that we had only a few from Bruderheim and that they would come to Lamont to be picked up. It's, in fact, looking more like there's sufficient momentum in the Bruderheim, F o r t Saskatchewan, Josephberg area that would cause us to consider Bruderheim as a pickup point for bussing,” he said. “There will be a pickup point encompassing Hilliard and Chipman families. We have families coming from Veg-reville, (and) Two Hills will be a pickup point as there’s sufficient mass there (too).” In terms of the conditions on the approval letter, Zabrick said he has spoken with several other approved charter schools who have told him the
conditional letter was normal. Additionally, Zabrick said June 2 is the deadline for completion of nearly all the items. “We will have no problem delivering well before June 2,” he said, adding the school is in need of the additional funding from the county. “We're in operation now. We're no longer an application. It's go time, and some of these activities (hiring, purchasing office furniture) carry costs.” Zabrick said Elk Island Public Schools removed the school and office furniture when they closed the school in June 2023. He emphasized that over 200 interested families came out to their Feb. 28 open house, and ARA is the first charter school to offer STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) with a rural focus. He said he is working with a field services manager to determine a preliminary budget with timelines. The council approved a motion to prepare a report for funding approval and bring it back to the Apr. 15 regular council meeting.
Church hit with $35,000 bill for Feb. hall fire BY JANA SEMENIUK Lamont County will be looking to Regional Fire Chief Bo Moore for explanations around a $35,000 fire bill charged to the Holy Ascension RussoGreek Orthodox church whose hall burned to the ground on Feb. 6. It was located North of the Skaro Hall on range road 200. Lamont County Communications Director Jay Zaal said, by email at the time, the fire began just after 5 p.m. and crews from Bruderheim, Lamont, Chipman and
Mundare responded. He said that crews from Andrew were brought in to do fire watch overnight. The structure collapsed the next morning at 8:30 a.m. which resulted in the fire lighting up again. The bill was discussed during the Apr. 1 County council meeting where Chief Administrative Officer Peter Tarnawsky said that normally the landowner would make a request by delegation to council, but council could refer the matter to the fire chief.
“That’s probably what I would suggest,” said Reeve David Diduck. “Nothing we can do with this report, not knowing the facts. We should be referring it to the fire chief and he can bring us back a report.” Councillor Dan Warawa expressed surprise there was not something in the bylaw protecting churches from the extreme charges. “Do we not have something that for religious organizations or the churches?,” he asked. “These churches are
barely surviving, and you hit them with a $35,000 bill.” CAO Tarnawsky said it was something the council could direct in the future. “I think the more immediate need is to understand and see the direction from Council based on understanding the situation,” he added. A motion was approved to refer the item on the fire billing for the Holy Ascension Russo-Greek Orthodox church to the fire chief.