History of Education in Beiseker, Part III

I joined the staff of Beiseker School in the fall of 1969.  I had been teaching in the City of Calgary but I didn't like it.  I was greatly disillusioned.  I thought it was far too impersonal.  I was pretty much ready to quit teaching and do something else.  My move to Beiseker changed that.

Beiseker was a small school then, actually it had a population similar to today's; 383 students. It had one classroom for each grade.

I found the kids, their parents, and this community to be friendly and straight forward.  I worked in Beiseker School for 17 years, and I was saddened when I was transferred to Crossfield. 

The staff and students have done some amazing things over the years!  Here are just a few;

The Bi-Campus & Tri-Campus;  To offer a larger program of courses to high school students, Beiseker School paired up with Kathyrn School and offered high school courses in each school.  Later Beiseker and Kathyrn joined with Acme School to form a Tri-Campus, offering different high school courses and programs in all three buildings.  To my knowledge, this was the first and possibly the only Tri-Campus program to operate in Alberta.  What is even more amazing was that it also involved two school divisions (Rocky View and Golden Hills)!

The "E.O.F." Program;  The Elementary Opportunities Fund was set up by the provincial Department of Education and given to individual schools to offer different programs to their elementary students.  Beiseker School received such a grant.  Here the grant was used to give any student a short little boost in learning in one small area of either Math or Language Arts.  The Girls' Boot Room in the basement of the original school building was converted into a classroom and a teacher (Miss W. Abbott) was hired.  Our E.O.F. Room ran very successfully for three years until the government pulled the funding for the entire province-wide program.

The Sports Programs;  I think Beiseker had Rocky View's first (and perhaps only) cricket pitch!  Mr. S. Wallace was a champion Cricket bowler (pitcher) and played on the Canadian National Cricket Team.  While teaching in Beiseker, he taught cricket to his students! The Bi-Campus (and later just Beiseker School) has fielded many top sports teams over the last 50 years!   Many of those championship banners proudly hang in the Gym now.  Next time you're in there have a look at that impressive display!  Remember: Once a Beiseker Bandit, always a Beiseker Bandit!!

Industrial Education;  Beiseker School was the first school in this entire area to offer an Industrial Arts Program with a full shop!  The shop was constructed in a temporary prefab building immediately south of the original main building.  It offered welding, photography, graphics, woodworking, automotives, and metal working.  That shop was replaced by a more permanent structure more than 10 years ago.

The Community School Program; In the early 1980s, Beiseker School was one of over 100 schools from across Alberta to apply to become a Community School.  A Community School was one that worked much more closely with the community around it.  Programs and the curriculum were tailored to the needs of that community.  Instead of a school being open just 200 days a year, a Community School could be open more than 300 days a year!  Of course that costs money, so the provincial government set up a large fund to help offset those extra costs.   Beiseker was the only school in Rocky View to attain Community School status!  Unfortunately the provincial Community School project funding was terminated in the late 1980s but the Beiseker Community School moniker proudly remains.

These are just five programs which made Beiseker Community School just a bit more special.  Teachers, Administrators, and students, past and present have much to be proud of.  I hope you all get a chance to visit Beiseker Community School during the reunion set to begin on Friday, June 12 and continue over that weekend.  Check out those banners in the Gym, search for a familiar face or name on the grad photos in the hallway, leaf through the old yearbooks.  Be proud!

The History of Education in Beiseker, Part II

While the rural school districts were gearing up and flourishing around Beiseker, students who lived in the village had no school to attend.

Village students had to attend the Odessa School District school, located about 4 km. northeast of Beiseker.  In 1913 there were too many kids for Odessa to handle so a school district was set up in Beiseker. The first schoolroom was set up in part of F. A. Lount's farm machinery dealership warehouse.  A year later the schoolhouse was built.

That school provided the same rudimentary education as did the rural one-room schools.  In 1918, Odessa School District and Beiseker School District joined to form the Beiseker Consolidated School District #55 and the new Beiseker Consolidated School was constructed on a site now occupied by St. Mary's Catholic Church.  That district operated until 1950. 

In 1951, the new school building under the control of Calgary Rural School Division #41 was finished on its present site across Second Ave. from the Consolidated School.  The Consolidated School was demolished and construction of St. Mary's began in 1955.

The present building has served this community well ever since.  There have been many additions and renovations to the building starting with the Gymnasium, then the south east wing which has been added to at least twice.  Then came the East Wing beyond the Gym.  Meanwhile the basement of the original school building was renovated to serve as classrooms.

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In 1967, a huge community and school project was undertaken to create the Centennial Mall, in front of the school.  The project director was then-Principal William Hansell.

Six hundred bags of cement, a mountain  of sand and gravel, and plenty of muscle power went into building the Centennial Mall!  The Mall featured a circular raised flower garden, and park benches.  It also had a large Canadian Centennial Symbol embedded in concrete.

We were told that every effort would be taken to preserve the Centennial Mall during renovations, but I see no evidence of it today.

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Beiseker had a number of teacherages for staff members to live in while working here.  The first were actually teacherages brought in from the now-defunct rural school districts.

At least one was placed on the school grounds while three were placed along Fifth Ave., across from the fire hall.  The teacherage in the school yard was eventually sold, moved and renovated.  It is now a private residence on Ninth Street.

The second round of teacher homes were built in the late 1950s & early 1960s. Two were constructed on Fifth Street and two more were built on Seventh Street.  All have been sold by the school division to become private residences.

Playground on the Move!

Here's a huge "Beiseker Thank You" to those who worked so hard to removed the playground apparatus on the north side of the Beiseker Community School yard. 

As you may recall, the equipment was slated to be demolished by Rocky View Schools, even though it was in excellent condition - save a few relatively minor repairs.  Members of the Beiseker Fire Department and a few other volunteers spent a good part of Saturday carefully dismantling the structure, and hauling it off to storage. 

There it will be cleaned and repaired while a suitable location is sought for its re-installation.

I was the blister!  I arrived after the heavy work had been done.  The small but mighty group of volunteers had already removed most of the structure and had just a few of the uprights left to load up.

To all those who helped out goes a B.B.P.O.T.B.  (Big Beiseker Pat On The Back).  Well done everyone!

Keeping Beiseker Happy and Healthy

Beiseker is very lucky to have the support services it already has, for a community of our size.  But they can be better!

• Community Links:  This new facility in Lions' Centennial Park (across from the Community Centre) has made living here even better for many people!  Family support services, parenting programs, counselling services, and a multitude of other programs can be accessed through Community Links!  The building also houses our very active and attractive Library and Play School.
• Medical Centre:  Our Medical Building on Main Street at Third Ave. is home to a physician twice a week and a dentist once a week.  It is not operated by the Village but is supported by them.
• Education;  Beiseker Community School is now a K to 12 facility and will become one of the main attractive features for those considering moving to Beiseker in the future!
• Recreation;  Our village offers an amazing choice of recreational activities and facilities, from the village owned Beiseker Arena (operated by the Ag Society) to playgrounds and outdoor facilities such as the skateboard park and ball diamonds. 
• Youth Justice:  Young offenders in our area can be referred to the Alternate Measures Program through the Big Country Youth Justice Committee, founded here more than twenty years ago!  If they successfully complete the Alternate Measures Program, the young offender avoids having a police record.
• Fire Department;  Beiseker has a very active and effective volunteer fire department manned by very dedicated people.  Their job has been made easier with the recent purchase of a more modern fire truck! Operating in conjunction with our fire department is our first response medical team who are equipped and trained to provide assistance to those in our village injured or ill and waiting for the ambulance.

With your vote, I will continue my efforts to enhance these services.  Here are some of my goals;

• To investigate the possibility of having the Community Links program open more than two days per week.
• To help get the word out as to what the Community Links programs and facility can do for you.
• To communicate with the operating board of the Medical Building to make sure they are receiving all the assistance they need to operate this important facility.  I do firmly believe in the adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" - and I will recommend the village become involved only if invited!
• To keep reminding the provincial and federal governments that we need effective policing from our RCMP detachment here, with a full complement of officers at all times.
• To remain serving on the Big Country Youth Justice Committee and I will be active in recruiting new members to that committee.
• To continue supporting Rocky View Schools and their efforts to make Beiseker Community School an active part of our community.
• To ensure that the recreational facilities meet the need of our villagers and to keep them in tip top order.
• To do my utmost to create mutual aid agreements with all surrounding jurisdictions in regards to emergency services.  I believe this is imperative to maintaining a strong volunteer fire department, providing emergency services to Beiseker and the surrounding area.
• To once again throw our voice into the debate to have a full hospital built in Airdrie.

School Playground Replacement

photo by Raymond Wong, via Flickr

I very much enjoyed meeting the new administration for Beiseker Community School at a Council meeting, last month. They and our school trustee, Norma Lang came in to introduce themselves to Village Council.

One of the topics we discussed was the fate of the playground structures at Beiseker Community School. I was most distressed to hear that the north playground was slated to be demolished later this year.   Our school board has also decided that each school shall only have one playground structure on their school grounds!

The north playground at school is not that old, and when it is demolished it will be up to parents and communities to raise the funds to replace it.  Also, when that happens, I assume the other playground on the east side will be demolished and not replaced.

Students in Beiseker community school come from families in in the Beiseker,  Irricana, and Kathyrn area.  Geographically this is a large area but with a small population . Asking them to continually replace playgrounds is absurd.

A playground structure can cost over $100,000.   If the school division demolishes it after 20 years, that means the cost of of that playground was more than $5000 per year to the community!

I am not a safety expert, but I think the school division is becoming a little paranoid about safety on these playground structures!  The structures can't have become unsafe over the few years that they have been constructed, nor have the regulations changed that much as to their safety standards.

I believe the school division should readdress this issue!  Small communities like ours cannot afford to continually replace playground structures at the whim of the school division!