Parent says new southeast Regina high school sorely needed

At least one parent is happy to see Regina’s public and Catholic school divisions working on a possible new joint-use high school in the city’s southeast.

On Tuesday, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the divisions to conduct a feasibility study on the possibility of a new school in the area. It’s the first step in what would be a long process, but it’s something Greta Lange welcomes.

Lange is the chair of the community council at Campbell Collegiate, one of the high schools which would be affected if a new one were to be built in the southeast. One of Lange’s children attends Campbell, and another is in elementary school.

She said a new high school is an exciting prospect, and it’s also very necessary. Lange explained that the classrooms at Campbell are crowded, which can pose problems for some students.

“For any kid, it is more difficult to make connections with teachers (and) it’s more difficult to build relationships when there are so many people around. Some kids thrive in that environment, but not everyone does. I think it’s easier to slip through the cracks,” said Lange.

Lange called the number of students in some classes “enormous.”

“Teachers, as well-meaning as they may be, there’s no way that they can connect with every student in that room, and that makes a difference because kids aren’t robots,” she said.

With a new school taking some of the students and easing enrolment at Campbell, Lange said hopefully the class sizes could go down. She said the administration is doing the best it can, but it seems to her that everything is stretched as thin as it can be.

Lange is also excited about the way it appears the divisions are thinking about new schools, seeming to involve the community and parents a lot more. She said it’s a paradigm shift and something she’s pleased with.

“(The goal seems to be) to have more community-focused schools, to have more multi-use schools, to have schools that more easily engage the family and the community, which is going to better support the students as whole people instead of just numbers in a classroom,” said Lange.

Lange is also fine with the idea of the school being joint-use between the two divisions, saying the more people who can benefit from it, the better.