Calgary Board of Education Calgary School District No. 19 | |
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Location | |
Canada | |
Coordinates | 51°2′52″N114°3′30″W / 51.04778°N 114.05833°W |
District information | |
Superintendent | Joanne Pitman |
Chair of the board | Patricia Bolger |
Schools | 251 (2024-25) [1] |
Budget | CA$1.62 billion (2024-25) [2] |
Students and staff | |
Students | 142,402 (2024-25) [3] |
Staff | ~ 16,000 (2024-25) [4] |
Other information | |
Vice Chair of the board | Nancy Close |
Elected trustees | Vacant, wards 1, 2 Laura Hack, wards 3, 4 Marilyn Dennis, wards 5, 10 Patricia Bolger, wards 6, 7 Susan Vukadinovic, ward 8, 9 Nancy Close, wards 11, 13 Charlene May, wards 12, 14 |
Website | www |
Calgary School District No. 19 or the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) is the public school board in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. As a public system, the CBE is required to accept any students who meet age and residency requirements, regardless of religion. Calgary Board of Education (CBE) was founded in 1885 as the Calgary Protestant Public School District No. 19. [5]
The CBE is the largest school board in Alberta, and over twice the size of the other major school district board in Calgary, [6] the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD), which teaches mainly Catholic students. The other two districts based in the city, both Francophone, are a fraction of the size of the CBE with only a handful of schools each. In land area, the CBE is the smallest of the four Calgary districts, as its territory is limited to the municipal limits of Calgary (although its area is only slightly smaller than that of the CCSD). As the city limits have expanded, the CBE boundary has remained in sync. All CBE land overlaps the other three districts.
The CBE operates 251 schools in grades K-12. Total student enrolment is around 138,000 students. For context, that is larger than the entire population of Red Deer, Alberta. The operating budget is $1.62 billion for the 2024/25 school year, which has increased by $120 million from the 2023/24 school year.
A group of seven elected trustees govern the CBE. Each trustee represents two wards in the city. They are elected every four years, in the regular municipal election. In the election, Calgary voters can only vote for a trustee to one (not both) of the two main school boards. The last election was in October 2021. Trustee Patricia Bolger was elected Chair of the Board of Trustees by her fellow Trustees in June 2024 at an organizational meeting to confirm committee appointments for the following year. The public (CBE) and Catholic (CCSD) systems operate independently of each other, and are both under the direct authority of the provincial government of Alberta.
Taxing powers were stripped from boards by the Government of Alberta back in the 1990s.
The CBE Board of Trustees was dismissed by the Government of Alberta in 1999, when Danielle Smith was the Chair of the Board of Trustees. It was dismissed after being deemed dysfunctional by the province. An election was held in 1999 to replace the Board. [7]
Long-serving Trustee and Chair of the Board, Pat Cochrane declined to run in the 2013 municipal elections. Cochrane was first elected in 1999 and has devoted much effort and time to the causes of Public Education. Fellow trustee George Lane was defeated by a wide margin in Wards 6 & 7. [8]
For several election cycles, among the many candidates running on a platform of strengthening the CBE, there have also been candidates running on a platform of taking down the CBE and weakening the public education system to increase government funding for private options (which include private schools and charter schools). Some of these candidates have run as individuals and some have run as part of a slate of candidates. In the 2017 election, two members of the Students Count slate were elected and one, Lisa Davis, resigned before her term was ended [9] and co-founded a charter school shortly after that duplicates existing CBE offerings. [10] In the 2021 election, the take-down-the-CBE slate was called "Take Back the CBE". None of the candidates running on a platform of weakening the CBE were elected in the 2021 election.
The CBE operates a number of special programs, usually, but not always operated out of regular schools (with regular instruction).
The CBE operates an adult and continuing education program through Chinook Learning Services. It offers High School Upgrading, Continuing Education and adult English as a Second Language (ESL) programs.
The Louise Dean Centre is a school specifically designed for female students who become pregnant before completing high school. It provides daycare for the children, flexible schedules for the students, and special counseling.
The CBE's Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program assists qualified students with more advanced instruction. GATE compacts and accelerates the typical curriculum. It also provides extra experts and mentors. Currently, nine CBE schools offer the GATE program. [11]
In 2003, the CBE opened the board's only all-female school, Alice Jamieson Girls' Academy. In the same year, over the board's objections, the Calgary Girls' School (CGS) public charter school was also opened; but as a charter school, CGS is run independently of the CBE. Both schools teach grades 4-9, and are founded on the premise that girls learn differently from boys, and will under-perform for social reasons when in the presence of male peers.
In 2011, the CBE opened the board's first all-male alternative program, based in the Sir James Lougheed School. The program teaches grades K-5, and similar to the all-girls schools - the program is founded on the premise that boys learn differently from girls, and they may behave differently in order to meet "macho" expectations, and that they require a more active, hands-on teaching style.
The board also operates a French immersion program in a limited number of schools. The program is geared mainly toward English-speaking families who wish their children to become fully fluent in French. It offers early and late immersion programs.
Up until 2000, the CBE also provided French instruction (as the primary language of instruction) to children from French families (who didn't need or want immersion). When the Greater Southern Francophone School Board was formed in 2000, the CBE relinquished its authority over such schools and handed over (what was then known as) Ecole Queen's Park (its only such school at the time) to the Francophone board.
In Alberta, a senior high school teaches grades 10-12. However, some may not teach all three grades. Also, some are combined with junior high schools, which teach grades 7-9. The following is a list of senior high schools operated by the CBE as of 2024, taken from the CBE's complete list. The board divides the city into five areas. [12]
School Name | Grades | Area | Location |
---|---|---|---|
Alternative High School (at Clinton Ford Centre) | 10-12 | IV | 5003 - 20 St. S.W. |
Bowness High School | 10-12 | I | 4627 - 77 St., N.W. |
Centennial High School | 10-12 | V | 55 Sun Valley Blvd., S.E. |
Central Memorial High School | 10-12 | IV | 5111 - 21 St., S.W. |
Crescent Heights High School | 10-12 | II | 1019 - 1 St., N.W. |
Dr. E.P. Scarlett High School | 10-12 | V | 220 Canterbury Dr., S.W. |
Ernest Manning High School | 10-12 | IV | 20 Springborough Blvd., S.W. |
Forest Lawn High School | 10-12 | III | 1304 - 44 St., S.E. |
Henry Wise Wood High School | 10-12 | V | 910 - 75 Avenue, S.W. |
Jack James High School | 10-12 | III | 5105 - 8 Avenue, S.E. |
James Fowler High School | 10-12 | II | 4004 - 4 St., N.W. |
Joane Cardinal-Schubert High School | 10-12 | V | 19480 45 St., S.E. |
John G. Diefenbaker High School | 10-12 | II | 6620 - 4 St., N.W. |
Lester B. Pearson High School | 10-12 | III | 3020 - 52 St. N.E. |
Lord Beaverbrook High School | 10-12 | V | 9019 Fairmount Dr., S.E. |
Nelson Mandela High School | 10-12 | III | 45 Saddletowne Circle N.E. |
North Trail High School | 10-12 | III | 12500 Harvest Hills Blvd N.E. |
Robert Thirsk High School | 10-12 | I | 8777 Nose Hill Dr., N.W. |
Sir Winston Churchill High School | 10-12 | I | 5220 Northland Dr., N.W. |
Western Canada High School | 10-12 | IV | 641 - 17 Avenue, S.W. |
William Aberhart High School | 10-12 | II | 3009 Morley Trail, N.W. |
Combined Junior and Senior High Schools | |||
School Name | Grades | Area | Location |
Juno Beach Academy of Canadian Studies (at Dr. Norman Bethune School ) | 7-12 | V | 315 - 86 Avenue, S.E. |
Louise Dean Centre | 7-12 | II | 120 - 23 St. N.W. |
National Sport School | 9-12 | IV | Suite 101 - 151 Canada Olympic Rd., S.W. |
Queen Elizabeth Junior/Senior High School | 7-12 | II | 512 - 18 St., N.W. |
Online School | |||
School Name | Grades | Area | Location |
CBe-learn (at Lord Shaughnessy High School) | 1-12 | All | 2336 53 Avenue, S.W. |
Career and Technology Centres | |||
School Name | Grades | Area | Location |
Career and Technology Centre (at Lord Shaughnessy High School) | 7-12 | All | 2336 53 Avenue, S.W. |
The CBE, in 2010, launched the CBE Chief Superintendent's Student Advisory Council - a group of high school students with student representation from each of the CBE's high school programs. They meet regularly with the CBE's Chief Superintendent, Christopher Usih, to discuss issues in the system and propose solutions. [13]
French immersion is a form of bilingual education in which students who do not speak French as a first language will receive instruction in French. In most French-immersion schools, students will learn to speak French and learn most subjects such as history, music, geography, art, physical education and science in French.
Calgary Roman Catholic Separate School District No. 1 or the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) is the Roman Catholic separate school board in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It also serves the neighbouring communities of Airdrie, Chestermere, Cochrane and Rocky View County. The CSSD receives funding for students from the provincial government of Alberta.
Queen Elizabeth High School (QEHS) is a Canadian public combined junior and senior high school in Calgary, Alberta, which teaches grades 7 through 12. The junior (7–9) and senior high (10–12) programs share a common principal, many teachers, and other resources of the school. It is operated by the Calgary Board of Education. QEHS operates separately from Queen Elizabeth Elementary School, even though the two schools are physically adjacent to each other.
The Vancouver School Board (VSB), officially the Board of Education of School District No. 39 (Vancouver), is a school district based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. A board of nine elected trustees governs this school district that serves the city of Vancouver and the University Endowment Lands.
Louise Dean School was a public combined junior and senior high school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, that teaches Grades 9 through 12. It is designed exclusively for teenage mothers, both current and expectant. It is operated by the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) with assistance from The Catholic Family Service of Calgary; despite the organization's name, the program is secular.
King George School (KGS) is a public French immersion elementary school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is operated by the Calgary Board of Education (CBE).
North Trail High School is a senior high school located in the northeast community of Coventry Hills in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The school's name is derived from the Siksika First Nation with historical significance from trails used by First Nations ancestors.
Lester B. Pearson High School is a public senior high school located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada administered by the Calgary Board of Education. The school is named for Nobel Laureate and Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.
William Aberhart High School is a public senior high school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, which teaches grades 10, 11, and 12. It is operated by the Calgary Board of Education. It is a comprehensive English and French Immersion school of 1300 students. William Aberhart High School is located at 3009 Morley Trail NW. The school contains 54 classrooms, two gymnasiums, a fitness centre, a multi-media library resource centre, and specialized areas for music, and art. It also plays host to a debate union. Other school activities and clubs include the largest high school Model United Nations team in Calgary; the most frequently published school newspaper in Southern Alberta, The Advocate; an independent students' media magazine, The Iconographer; an environmentally active organization, Destination Conservation; the Student Outreach Society, a peer support group; a bilingual club, Immersion en Action; and many others.
Education in Alberta is provided mainly through funding from the provincial government. The earliest form of formal education in Alberta is usually preschool which is not mandatory and is then followed by the partially-mandatory kindergarten to Grade 12. This is managed by Alberta Education which has divided the province into 379 school authorities. Higher education in the province is managed by Alberta Advanced Education.
École J.H. Picard School is a K–12 school located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is presently the only Catholic school in Western Canada that provides French Immersion education from kindergarten to grade 12.
Education in Ontario comprises public and private primary schools, secondary schools and post-secondary institutions. Publicly funded elementary and secondary schools are administered by the Ontario Ministry of Education, while colleges and universities are administered by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. The current respective Ministers for each are Jill Dunlop and Ross Romano. The province's public education system is primarily funded by the Government of Ontario, with education in Canada falling almost entirely under provincial jurisdiction. There is no federal government department or agency involved in the formation or analysis of policy regarding education for most Canadians. Schools for Indigenous people in Canada with Indian status are the only schools that are funded federally, and although the schools receive more money per individual student than certain provinces, the amount also includes the operation and maintenance of school facilities, instructional services, students supports and staff. Most provincial allocations per students do not include the maintenance and operation of buildings, as most provincial governments offer additional grants.
Bishop Pinkham Junior High School is a public junior high school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It has classes for grades 7 through 9, offering French, and English programs. Bishop Pinkham is located in the Lakeview community of Calgary. September 2017 was the last year that French grade 6 was offered at BP. As of September 2017, students leaving the elementary Spanish Bilingual program will enter middle school at AE Cross instead of Bishop Pinkham. At that point, Bishop Pinkham will only offer French and English to grades 7, 8, and 9.
Rocky View School Division No. 41 or Rocky View Schools (RVS) is the public school authority that serves students to the west, north and east of the City of Calgary in the province of Alberta.
Gordon Edwin Dirks is a Canadian educator and politician, who has held political office in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Black Gold School Division or Black Gold Regional Schools is a public school authority in Central Alberta, Canada, headquartered in Nisku.
Alberta Distance Learning Centre (ADLC) was an educational organization that provided distance and distributed education services to primary and secondary students. It was based out of Barrhead, Alberta, Canada. ADLC ceased operation following the 2020–21 school year after it was defunded by the provincial government.
Jamie Kleinsteuber is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2015 Alberta general election to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, representing the electoral district of Calgary-Northern Hills.
Margaret Ellen McCuaig-Boyd is a Canadian politician who was elected in the Alberta General Election, 2015 to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the electoral district of Dunvegan-Central Peace-Notley. She was Minister of Energy in the Alberta Cabinet.
Demetrios Nicolaides is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2019 Alberta general election to represent the electoral district of Calgary-Bow in the 30th Alberta Legislature. He is a member of the United Conservative Party. On April 30, 2019, he was appointed to be the Minister of Advanced Education in the Executive Council of Alberta.