A groundbreaking ceremony has been scheduled for the new Edwin Parr Composite high school on Sept. 29 at 10 a.m.
The ceremony will have students from Grades 5 and 10 participating in the ceremonies. The Grade 5 class will be the first to go through the high school and the Grade 10 class will be the first to graduate. The participating students have yet to be determined.
Aspen View Public Schools superintendent Mark Francis said at a Sept. 1 school board meeting that the project is close to getting permits for the cement and foundation, which he hoped would be down very soon.
Aspen View secretary-treasurer Amber Oko explained that they first have to wait for the 60-per-cent drawings to be complete. Once finished, Aspen View, the project managers, the architects and Alberta Infrastructure will review the designs and return them to the contractors.
“Once (the contractor Clark Builders) have the final design drawings, then they can do the permit applications through the town,” Oko said.
On Sept. 6, Francis will be presenting to the Town of Athabasca’s council to discuss extending University Drive and what work the town will do.
“The extension of the drive includes the utilities, the road and the plan for the road,” he said. “It’s important right now, because what we do with the school really depends on the town’s plans for the road. We don’t need the road built right away, but we need the plans for the road because, depending on the elevation of the road, that dictates how deep we put our sewer and where we tie in (to utilities).”
He noted that the school project partners have been meeting every two weeks in Edmonton, but that the meetings will shift back to Athabasca once the work gets beyond engineering.
A time-lapse camera has also been installed at the construction site to take images of the school as it is being built. The images will soon be available online for the public.
