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Nicholson said her two sons will now be able to learn in new classrooms close to home. She had been concerned the starter school model would not have exposed her children to a full suite of amenities including a formal library and gym.

“This has been a tw0-year endeavour to make this happen with a whole lot of time, meetings and time away from my family to do it,” she said.

The six Calgary communities had earlier been slated for starter schools, permanent facilities built in phases, beginning with modular classrooms, each of them housing 250 to 300 students.

The Calgary Board of Education’s starter schools would have featured 10 modular classrooms, a washroom, office, storage space and an activity centre that could have been converted into a makeshift library or gym.

Alberta Education said in a statement that its officials had been working with school boards “to ensure communities with high-growth enrolment have their infrastructure priorities met.”

To that end, the department said it abandoned its plans for 12 starter schools in Alberta, half in Edmonton, the other half in Calgary, and would build fully fledged schools instead. These facilities, expected to take a few months longer to build, will accommodate 600 to 900 students.

“These communities continue to grow and grow as all of Calgary has, and in those four areas in particular we’re seeing all kinds of space crunches,” said CBE trustee Amber Stewart.

A meeting among Cranston parents a few weeks ago had packed an elementary school gym, with moms and dads calling for a new, full-scale elementary school, sooner rather than later, Stewart said.

In SkyView Ranch and Silverado, where the Calgary Catholic School District will have a total of 900 new student spaces from kindergarten to Grade 9, many students currently have to be bused to neighbouring communities.

“The need’s pretty high because we’re busing those students out and they’re going long distances,” said Linda Wellman, chairwoman of the school board. “In SkyView Ranch, we’re bringing them all the way down to Coral Springs.”

rsouthwick@calgaryherald.com