Alberta Education’s top priority is ensuring the safety and well-being of students, which is why the government is investing more than $3 million to facilitate the relocation of the Louise Dean School to Jack James High School.
The Louise Dean School offers a specialized Grade 9 to 12 program for expecting and parenting teens to support their education and health while also offering support to their children.
The Louise Dean School is being relocated due to extensive maintenance and infrastructure needs at the previous site.
Key building modifications at Jack James High School will include a separate entrance for Louise Dean School and card access controls on interior doors to ensure students continue to feel safe.
Students will have access to a separate child-care space, more transit options and decreased average travel time, dedicated parking, and continued and expanded educational and health services and programming.
Alberta Education is also providing $35,000 in additional annual transportation funding, starting in the 2022-23 school year, to support transportation costs for Louise Dean School students.
“Louise Dean School students should be able to pursue their education with compassion and care. This new location will allow them the privacy they need to care for themselves and families while also completing their studies and setting themselves up for future success.”
Louise Dean School students may also benefit from:
- increased co-parenting opportunities
- access to a broader range of educational courses such as diploma and knowledge and employability courses and career and technology programs
- individualized academic support
“On behalf of the Calgary Board of Education, I would like to thank Alberta Education for the support of and contribution towards the renovation of Jack James High School. This investment will contribute to the necessary adjustments needed to welcome students from the Louise Dean School in the 2024-25 school year. Students from Jack James High School and Louise Dean School will benefit from access to a wider range of supports and learning opportunities.”
“We see many benefits to our future clients through the relocation to Jack James High School: increased access to our services by young fathers; a broader range of educational courses; more academic support, especially for Indigenous and newcomer students; and a more convenient commute for many students.”
“The Louise Dean School provides resources and supports to help parenting teens succeed in their academics while also ensuring access to in-house child care and health services. Ensuring all students in Alberta have barrier-free access to education is a priority for our government.”
Quick facts
- First opened in 1969, Louise Dean School provides a specialized Grade 9 to 12 program for expecting and parenting teens, their children and families with educational and health-care support.
- In partnership with Calgary Board of Education, Kindred (formerly Catholic Family Services) and Alberta Health Services, Louise Dean School provides students with wraparound supports, including:
- social/emotional support, success coaches, cultural diversity advisors, a financial support worker
- parent coaches, counselling, co-parenting courses, pre-natal support, on-site child care
- a visiting physician provides physical, medical and sexual health support on a weekly basis
- Students Transitioning to Employment, Education and Parenting (STEP) supports
- Due to declining enrolment and extensive maintenance and infrastructure needs at the existing site, Calgary Board of Education trustees voted in November 2022 to relocate the centre from its own stand-alone building to Jack James High School.