Board chair pens letter to Minister to include a theatre at the new SGCHS

Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023 – The Parkland School Division (PSD) Board of Trustees has passed a motion during a special meeting of the board to formally request a new theatre become part of the Spruce Grove Composite High School Capital Project.

The board has directed the Board Chair, Dr. Lorraine Stewart, to write a letter directly to Demetrios Nicolaides, Alberta Minister of Education, to formally request $5-million to include a new theatre, comparable to Horizon Stage, as part of the new school.

The motion for a formal letter comes after the Minister of Education sent a letter to the board on Oct. 23, 2023, that asked PSD to submit a formal request for funding. Minister Nicolaides said in the letter that a funding decision for the additional scope cannot be made until Budget 2024.

Horizon Stage is in a unique and complex situation as the land base is jointly owned by Parkland School Division (75 per cent) and the City of Spruce Grove (25 per cent). The theatre building is jointly owned by both the division and the city with 50 per cent each but the high school is 100 per cent owned by PSD.

The existing theatre will be lost under the current plan for demolition of the old school once the new school is completed.

IUOE Ratification 

The Board also accepted and ratified the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 955, Memorandum of Agreement of October 22, 2023, as recommended by the IUOE Labour Relations Committee.

Watch the LiveStream of the Special Board Meeting: