Edmonton Catholic Separate School Division No. 7 or the Edmonton Catholic School Division (ECSD) is the Catholic school board in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Size
The Edmonton Catholic School Division currently operates 96 schools.[1] There are a total of 1 pre-K school, 49 elementary schools, 21 elementary/junior high schools, 2 elementary/junior/senior high schools (not counting the Kisiko Awasis Kiskinhamawin in Mountain Cree Camp as the school is managed outside the ECSD main budget), 12 junior high schools, 1 junior/senior high school, 9 senior high schools (counting a 4-campus school as 1), and 1 senior high asynchronous online learning program (standalone, rather than logged in to follow along with a teacher lecturing a class in one of the physical schools).
As of the 2021–22 school year, ECSD has 43,400 students enrolled, with 4,300 staff, of which roughly 62% are certificated and 38% are classified support.[2][3] The ECSD approved budget for 2021-22 is C$513.2 million.[3]
In August 1888, Edmonton Catholic parents applied to organize a separate school district for their children. In October of that same year three sisters from the Faithful Companions of Jesus sailed from France to open a convent and a school in Edmonton. They began teaching at the newly formed St. Joachim Catholic School on 2 November 1888. That first year the sisters taught 23 students. At that time compulsory schooling began at age seven and was complete by the age of 12.[4] From that start in 1888–89, they have grown from one school with 23 students to 96 schools with more than 43,000 students in 2021–22.[2]
For many years the election of the trustees was at-large with half of them elected each year through Plurality block voting. All of the seats became up for election in each election after 1963.
Programs
Early learning
Edmonton Catholic Schools offers a pre-kindergarten program for children aged 3+1/2 to 4+1/2 called the 100 Voices program which is available at a number of different schools in the district.[5]
Language
The Edmonton Catholic School District offers a number of language programs.[6]
Cardinal Collins Academic Centre – City Centre Campus
An alternative learning program previously known as Fresh Start. The City Centre Campus (Edmonton City Hall) operates in partnership with The Hallway program.
Cardinal Collins Academic Centre – Clareview Campus
Cardinal Collins Academic Centre – Mill Woods Campus
Cardinal Collins Academic Centre – Westmount Campus
Mother Margret Mary
Revelation Online
This is the only school that is a pure virtual school, each student follows their own asynchronous schedule.
^ ab"School Directory". ECSD. Edmonton Catholic Schools. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
^ ab"Home Page (archived snapshot of August 2021)". ECSD.net. Edmonton Catholic Schools. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2021. 96 TOTAL SCHOOLS | 43.4k TOTAL STUDENTS | 132 YEARS IN OPERATION | 4.3k TOTAL STAFF
^ ab0110 The Edmonton Catholic Separate School Division (26 May 2021). Budget Report for the Year Ending August 31, 2022(PDF). ECSD (Report). Edmonton Catholic Schools. p. 3 (budget $ revenue), 9 (FTE "pre-K" + "K-12" student #), 10 (FTE staff # and certified/classified splits). Retrieved 27 September 2021.{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
