Calgary Board of Education

Calgary Board of Education
Calgary School District No. 19
Board office location	1221 – 8 Street S.W. Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Number of schools	223 (2010/2011)
2010-2011 budget (CAD $ millions)	$1035
Number of students	102,917 (2010/2011)
Chair of the Board	Patricia Cochrane
Superintendent	Naomi Johnson
Elected Trustees	Joy Bowen-Eyre, wards 1, 2 Lynn Ferguson, wards 3, 4 Pamela King, wards 5, 10 George Lane, wards 6, 7 Pat Cochrane, ward 8, 9 Shelia Taylor, wards 11, 13 Carol Bazinet, wards 12, 14
Official site

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.

Size

Statues by Mario Armengol outside the CBE's Education Centre Building

In terms of student population and school count, the CBE is over twice the size of the other major school district board in Calgary, the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD), which teaches mainly, but not exclusively, Catholic students. The other two districts based in the city, both Franchophone, 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 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 219 schools in grades K-12. Non-adult student enrollment was 96,860 as of September 2009. The operating budget was $790 million for the 2005/2006 fiscal year.

Governance

A group of seven elected trustees govern the CBE. Each trustee represents two wards in the city. They are elected every three 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 2010. 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.

Special programs

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 that 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 [1].

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 females learn differently than 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 than girls, and they may behave differently to meet "macho" expectations, and that they require a more active, hands-on teaching style.

French as the primary language of instruction

The board also operates a French immersion program in a limited number of schools. The program is geared mainly for English-speaking families who wish their children to become fully fluent in French. It offers early and late adoption 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.

Senior high schools

Western Canada High School is the oldest school operated by the CBE

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 2005, taken from the CBE's complete list. The board divides the city into five areas, shown on the City Area Map.

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.
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 Boulevard 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.
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.
Lord Shaughnessy High School	10-12	IV	2336 - 53 Avenue, S.W.
Sir William Van Horne High School	10-12	I	2215 Uxbridge 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 Ernest Manning High School)	7-12	All	3600 16 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, Naomi Johnson, to discuss issues in the system and propose solutions.

See also

• List of Alberta school boards
• List of high schools in Alberta

References

• "CBE will lose only Francophone school" By Colette Derworiz, Joe Bachmier, Calgary Herald. Calgary, Alta.: May 4, 2000. pg. B.10

External links

• The official site of the Calgary Board of Education
• Innovative Learning Services
• CBe-learn Online School
• Chinook Learning Services