News | DrumhellerMail

New Delia School opens ahead of schedule

delia school

It is an exciting week for students of Delia School, and indeed the entire community of Delia, as classes have begun at its new school.
Principal of Delia School Ryan Duckworth tells the Mail on Friday, he handed the keys to the school to teachers to move in. Classes were cancelled on Monday, October 18, as they prepared for a new era at Delia School. There is no one more excited than Duckworth.
“It’s absolutely amazing. I would even venture to say it is the nicest rural school in the province,” said Duckworth.
Delia School ceremonially broke ground in September 2020, and progress has been rapid. They were expecting to be finished building in the spring of next year, but they were five months ahead of schedule.
“We had a really good construction company, the contractor Shunda just really had some strong guys working for them. The site supervisor was Brian Antonsen, and he was an integral part of keeping everything flowing here, and Art Willard in Red Deer was doing a lot of stuff behind the scenes. They built the school in 13 months,” said Duckworth.
He says the partnership with the community has been amazing with the Delia School Enhancement Society raising $1.2 million to support the project and make the school serve as a community hub. Their funding contributed to making the gymnasium and library larger, as well as the addition of a multi-room, with bleachers for the gymnasium and fitness equipment for all the staff, students, and community to use.
Duckworth is in a unique position of being the principal of a brand new school.
“For me, it is a career highlight, a dream. I never thought I’d be a part of anything like this. I was transferred from Berry Creek School in Cessford and asked to be a part of this, and I am really thankful to (superintendents) Cam McKeage and Steven Nielsen for bringing me aboard because I got to be a part of a lot of decision making right from the start.”
The new school allows Delia to look at more value-added programming.
“We are really looking at building more programs. We are also looking at what could be a School of Excellence for Delia School. Altario has the agricultural program where they have built a small farm, Consort has a baseball academy, and Hanna is going with an innovations program,” he said. “We are looking at some possibilities for Delia may be some sports centred programs, possibly volleyball, and we are also looking at theatre and the arts as a real possibility with the amount of community support and professionalism with our community.”
While they are stepping into a new era, he says they will remember the history of Delia School.
“There is something to be said for the old school because there is a lot of history there. It has been around for 60 years and built on over five times, one of our teachers has worked her whole career there,” he said. “We are going to take a picture of the bulldog from the old gymnasium floor and frame it and put it up in the school.”

Drumheller COVID cases continue to climb

Screen Shot 2021 10 18 at 4.38.56 PM

The number of COVID-19 cases reported for the Town of Drumheller continues to climb, with eight new cases reported between Friday, October 15 and Monday, October 18.
There was also one new death reported over the weekend, bringing the town’s total COVID-19 related deaths since the start of the pandemic to six.
No acute care outbreaks are in effect for the Drumheller Health Centre and there are no active cases at the Drumheller Institution.
As of Monday, October 18 there are 30 active and 581 recovered cases of COVID-19 in the Town of Drumheller. There are nine active cases in Starland County, 20 active cases in Wheatland County, and Kneehill County currently has 97 active cases.

New county and municipal councils announced

Municipal Election 2021 header The ballots have been counted and the results of the 2021 Municipal Elections are in following the vote Monday, October 18.

Election results are considered official by no later than the fourth day after the election by 12 p.m.

Town of Drumheller

Over 1,000 people voted in the first three days of advanced polls for the Drumheller municipal election.

HeatherColberg

Heather Colberg was elected as Mayor with the new council made up of

LisaHansen Zacharuk

Lisa Hansen-Zacharuk,

PatrickKolafa

Patrick Kolafa,

TonyLacher

Tony Lacher,

Stephanie Price (no photo available),

CrystalSereda

Crystal Sereda,

TomZariski

and Tom Zariski.

A total of 2,655 out of a total 5,565 eligible voters, or 47.71 per cent, turned out to vote.

Village of Big Valley

Amber Hoogenburg, Daniel Houle, and Gail Knudson are the new councillors for the Village of Big Valley. Mayor and Deputy Mayor will be selected during the organizational meeting on Thursday, October 28. Photos of the new councillors were unavailable.

Kneehill County

Four elections were held in Kneehill County with three divisions acclaimed following nomination day.

FayeMcGhee Division1

Faye McGhee was acclaimed in Division 1,

JerryWittstock Division3

Jerry Wittstock acclaimed the Division 3 seat, and

WadeChristie Division6

Wade Christie was acclaimed in Division 6.

DebbiePenner Division2

Division 2 was won by Debbie Penner with 127 votes;

CarrieFobes Division4

with 86 votes, Carrie Fobes won the Division 4 seat;

LauraLeeMachellCunningham Division5

Laura Lee Machell Cunningham took the Division 5 seat with 130 votes;

KenKing Division7

and with 138 votes, Division 7 was won by Kenneth King.

Reeve and Deputy Reeve will be selected at the Tuesday, October 26 organizational meeting.

Village of Carbon

TrinaAnderson

Trina Anderson,

MichelleLomond

Michelle Lomond,

BrianMcHugh

Brian McHugh,

ReneeOBrien

Renee O’Brien,

BryanPeever

and Bryan Peever were elected as the new councillors for the Village of Carbon.

Mayor and Deputy Mayor will be selected by the new council at their organizational meeting on Monday, October 25.

Starland County

Three of the five divisions in Starland County were acclaimed following nomination day.

SteveWannstrom

Steve Wannstrom was acclaimed in Division 2,

BobSargent

Bob Sargent was acclaimed as councillor in Division 3, and

JohnWilliamRew

John William Rew was acclaimed in Division 5.

MarkLandry

Division 1 was won by newcomer Mark Landry with 75 votes;

JacquelineWatts

Jaqueline Watts was elected in Division 4 with a total of 107 votes.

Reeve and Deputy Reeve will be selected at the organizational meeting.

Village of Delia

The three-person council for the Village of Delia was acclaimed on nomination day; the new councillors are

MelodyChristofferson

Melody Christofferson,

JordanElliott

Jordan Elliot, and

DavidSisley

David Sisley.

Mayor and Deputy Mayor will be selected at the organizational meeting on Tuesday, October 19.

Village of Morrin

The Village of Morrin, which was overseen by Official Administrator Harold Johnsrude following dissolution of council in October 2020, has a new three-person council with Kenneth Balacko, M’Liss Edwards, and Lynn Helton elected. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor will be selected at the organizational meeting. Photos of the new council were unavailable.

Village of Munson

Stephen Hayes, Leslie Landon, and Mary Taylor were elected to the three-person council for the Village of Munson. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor will be selected at the organizational meeting. Photos of the new council were unavailable.

Wheatland County

Three divisions were acclaimed ahead of the municipal election and elections were held in four divisions.

AmberLink Division2

Amber Link was acclaimed in Division 2,

DonnaBiggar Division3

Donna Biggar in Division 3, and

TomIkert Division4

Tom Ikert was acclaimed in Division 4.

ShannonLaprise Division1

Division 1 was won by Shannon Laprise with 147 votes;

ScottKlassen Division5

with 428 votes, Scott Klassen won the Division 5 seat;

GlennKoester Division6

the Division 6 seat was won by Glenn Koester with 253 votes;

RickLaursen Division7

and Division 7 was won by Rick Laursen with 140 votes.

Reeve and Deputy Reeve will be selected at the organizational meeting on Monday, November 1.

Village of Hussar

The Village of Hussar’s three-person council was acclaimed on nomination day; the new councillors are Tim Frank, Les Schultz, and Coralee Schindel. Mayor and Deputy Mayor will be selected at the organizational meeting on Thursday, October 21. Photos of the new council were unavailable.

Village of Rockyford

DarcyBurke

Darcy Burke,

Bill Goodfellow (photo unavailable),

TylerHenke

Tyler Henke,

Kathleen Morin (photo unavailable),

LeahSmith

and Leah Smith will make up the new Village of Rockyford five person council.

The Mayor and Deputy Mayor will be selected by the new council at the organizational meeting.

Village of Standard

Carol Allard, Richard Bryan, Larry Casey, Martin Gauthier and Adam Sommerfeldt were elected to the five-person council for the Village of Standard. Council will select the Mayor and Deputy Mayor at the organizational meeting. Photos of the new council were unavailable.

– SCHOOL DIVISIONS –

Prairie Land School Division

All wards were acclaimed in the Prairie Land School Division and no school board trustee elections were held.

Ward 4 Subdivision 1, the Morrin/Munson ward, was acclaimed by new trustee Ken MacFarlane; Ward 4 Subdivision 2, the Delia ward, was acclaimed by incumbent trustee Shandele Battle.

Ward 1 was acclaimed by incumbent Holli Smith; incumbents Lindsay Bond and Shauna Davies were acclaimed to Ward 2 Subdivision 1, Town of Hanna ward; the Youngstown/Hanna Rural ward--Ward 2 Subdivision 2 was acclaimed by incumbent Scott MacPherson; the Veteran, Ward 3 Subdivision 1 was acclaimed by incumbent Marsha Tkach, and Ward 3 Subdivision 2, Altario/Consort, was acclaimed by new trustee Jinel Ference.

Golden Hills School Division

There was only one school board trustee election held for the Golden Hills School Division, with all other wards acclaimed.

Ward 1 (Three Hills, Torrington, Huxley, Trochu, and area) was acclaimed by Barry Kletke; Ward 2 (Acme, Carbon, Linden, and area) was won by James Northcott; Justin Bolin was acclaimed to Ward 3 (Drumheller); Ward 4 (Strathmore) was acclaimed by Robert Pirie and Jennifer Mertz; and Laurie Huntley was acclaimed as trustee for Ward 5 (Carseland, Gleichen, Cluny, Hussar, Rockyford, Standard and area).

Christ the Redeemer Catholic School Division

Only one school board trustee election was held for the Christ the Redeemer Catholic School Division, with all other wards acclaimed.

Ward 1 (Oyen and area) was acclaimed by Michelle Rude Volk; Mark Chung was acclaimed as trustee for Ward 2 Subdivision 1 (Drumheller, Rosebud, and area); Ward 2 Subdivision 2 (Strathmore and area) was acclaimed by Harry Salm; John De Jong was acclaimed as trustee of Ward 3 Subdivision 1 (Brooks, Bassano, Tilley, Duchess, Millicent, Patricia, Rainier, Scandia, Rolling Hills and area); Andrea Keenan was acclaimed as trustee of Ward 3 Subdivision 2 (Turner Valley, Black Diamond, Millarville, Priddis and area); Andrew Gustafson was elected as trustee in Ward 3 Subdivision 3 (Okotoks); Mark MacDonald was acclaimed as trustee in Ward 3 Subdivision 4 (High River); and Chennin Liedtke was acclaimed in Ward 3 Subdivision 5 (Canmore) as trustee.

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