On The Chopping Block: Webster Niblock School Profile

Signs of support for keeping Webster Niblock open once again are being posted outside the elementary school facing possible closures. (Photo submitted by Amanda Campbell)

First conceived in 1961, Webster Niblock School was the product of growing pressure by parents for new student spaces in growing neighbourhoods north of the river.

The school – opened in 1963 – took its name from Medicine Hat public school product, noted legal counsel and trustee first elected as trustee in 1936, Webster Niblock.

“You don’t need a palace to dispense justice or education, but I like to see children in attractive surrounds provided they are sound structurally and economically,” Niblock said during the opening of the school, according to the Medicine Hat News.

More than 60-years later, whether the school is either structurally or economically viable is at the heart of the discussion as to whether to keep the school open.

The elementary school escaped the big school shakeup proposed in 2004 and, according to the school board’s 10-year capital plan covering 2009 to 2019, Webster Niblock was over capacity in 2007 hosting 340 students.

The other Crescent Heights elementary, Vincent Massey, hosted 358 students and was sitting at over 90 per cent of capacity.

As of this school year, Webster Niblock and Vincent Massey host 174 and 204 students respectively.

To relieve the student number pressures faced in the first decade of the 2000s and to accommodate enrollment growth from new sub-divisions in northeast Crescent Heights, the school board pushed for a new elementary.

In 2016, the board got its wish with Dr. Ken Sauer Elementary breaking ground following the closure of the city’s other north end elementary, Riverside School.

The groundbreaking of Dr. Ken Sauer Elementary in October 2016 featuring (from L to R) Then mayor Ted Clugston, Medicine Hat MLA Bob Wanner, public school board chair Terry Riley, Dr. Ken Sauer, Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes and superintendent Mark Davidson. (File Photo)

Enrollment at Ken Sauer currently sits at a little less than 300 students from kindergarten to Grade 6.

While Webster Niblock is being proposed to close, the school board’s most recent capital plan released this spring includes a new estimated $42 million Vincent Massey School replacement.

“Construction of a 600-student Core School facility will allow (Medicine Hat Public School District) to adjust utilization of the school into the future based on the enrollment trends in the area,” stated the school board’s capital plan.

If the proposed closure of Webster Niblock goes ahead, students would be shifted to either Vincent Massey or Dr. Ken Sauer.

A consultation meeting on the proposed closure takes place Thursday Dec. 3 at Medicine Hat High School starting at 6:30 pm.