The Calgary Board of Education says it is moving forward with a recommendation to the board of trustees to begin a public consultation process on the proposed closure of the all-boys program at Sir James Lougheed School, according to a report published ahead of Tuesday’s board meeting.
The program was initially created to boost self-confidence and foster healthy relationships among boys through coaching and mentorship, the 11-page report said.
However, the report said the program’s goal has shifted over time to address students’ “increasingly complex learning and behaviour profiles” which the CBE says are being met at other special education programs and community schools across the city. Around 61 per cent of students attending the all-boys program have special education coding, compared to the CBE average of 19.4 per cent.
An analysis done last year found that the program doesn’t “effectively meet intended alternative program outcomes” and changes needed to be made to “ensure funds and services are utilized in an equitable way for all CBE students,” according to the report.
However, a survey conducted by the CBE showed strong support for the program while highlighting the challenges of trying to address the complex needs of a small cohort of students. The report said the survey was sent to four staff members, 17 parents and 54 students through program evaluations.
“Students with similar special education codes are supported in schools across our system. Teachers in CBE schools provide hands-on learning activities through a social-emotional lens and support students in identifying strategies for regulation and emotional well-being. As such, students’ learning needs attending the All Boys Program may be met equally well in other CBE school settings,” the report read.
Program not economically sustainable: report
The report also said the program sees low and declining enrolment, first identified in the 2018-2019 Three-Year System Student Accommodation Plan. Enrolment peaked at 177 students in 2016 and has been declining ever since, and only 51 students were enrolled in the 2023-2024 academic year. That number declined to 48 students in May 2024, and the report said many students moved out of the city, enrolled in private schools or moved to other CBE schools.
The CBE said the school is also seeing a 32 per cent utilization rate, well below the 85 per cent required to receive maximum operational and maintenance funding from the provincial government.
The low utilization rate and complex behavioural and classroom needs mean the program is no longer economically sustainable, according to the CBE. The cost per student at the all-boys program is 60 per cent higher than the cost per student in other elementary school programs and the funding allocated towards the program has impacted students and programs at other CBE schools, the report added.
Moving the program to operate alongside another program is also not economically sustainable because it will still create inequities within the system and the program is still operating out of alignment with the intended focus, the report said. The report also said creating a single-gender program is also not consistent with the CBE’s continuum of specialized supports and services and allocating additional resources will be “disproportionate” if students’ needs can be met in an “inclusive setting.”
“In the context of the broader budget available to support student needs across the CBE and a budget that has been challenged further during these years of record enrolment, the allocation over five years of an extra $460,000+ to the All Boys Program has impacted the supports and services available for students enrolled in other schools. Continued funding of this program in its current form is not sustainable nor equitable for CBE students,” the report read.
If the board decides to close the school, students will be able to attend their community schools or another CBE program in the 2025-2026 academic year. This will give 90 per cent of the students enrolled in the all-boys program to attend school closer to home while the rest of the students live closer to Sir James Lougheed School so their travel time will remain the same, the report said.
What are the transition plans?
The CBE also said it will work with parents and students to develop an “appropriate transition plan for each student.” This will include talking with students, parents, staff and teachers to come up with accommodations at existing schools to best support each student.
“Parent and student voice are an important part of the transition process, and students and families can often visit a school in advance and meet some of the staff members they could be interacting with before attending a new location,” the report read.
The CBE’s report said that the space allocated to the all-boys program at Sir James Lougheed School will be used for elementary school programming if the board decides to shut down the program. Ongoing maintenance costs (estimated to be around $165,000 a year) will continue but the cost per student will be closer to the CBE average because higher student numbers will reduce the dependency on the CBE’s Criteria-Based Response Funding for supplementary dollars.
Operations will be more efficient and the additional space will reduce enrolment pressures at other schools, the report added.
“Given the distribution of students in the All Boys Program across the city and the small number of students that would be added to each of the 30 identified schools, there is no significant financial impact anticipated for those schools,” the report said.
“In considering all of the additional costs currently required to operate the All Boys Program, closure of the program would allow for a more equitable distribution of CBE funds and resources in support of student success.”
The CBE’s board of trustees is expected to discuss a motion to consult the public on the all-boys program’s potential closure at a meeting on Tuesday.
