Add another element in the ongoing story between the two proposed high schools in Aldersyde and on 32 Street in Okotoks.

This time, subtract one of the high schools.

The Foothills School Division and Town of Okotoks announced Tuesday the building of a K-9 school on the recently purchased land by the Town set for construction next year and now Foothills Composite High School/Alberta High School of Fine Arts will be modernized and stay as a high school.

The first of many ideas had the Comp becoming a K-9 school while still getting modernized, but that has been put to rest after the announcement.

FSD Board Chair Christine Pretty says they're ready to be put a brand new school within the town limits.

"We're happy to work with [The Town of Okotoks] and collaborate on that site and K-9 is our driving need in all of these decisions, so we're excited to have that site in town and come back to the plan to modernizing the high school," she says.

Pretty says when the division heard of the Town's purchase of the Wedderburn land it was an easy decision to make that site a priority for a K-9 school.

"We needed that K-9 space and so the only viable option at that time was to do the high school in Aldersyde and modernize the current Composite to a K-9 site and that's how we could get that K-9 space," she says. "Now with this new space in Okotoks for the K-9 school, we can put that school on the 32 Street and modernize the Comp."

As for a high school in Aldersyde, Pretty says they'll stick with the Comp's modernization and the building of the K-9 school for now.

"We had a joint meeting a couple weeks ago with the Town, The M.D., Christ The Redeemer School Division and the Francophone Board and we talked about some long-term planning on a bigger scale in terms of future school sites, so our plan going forward is to really focus on these two sites and then look at the big picture in terms of school sites going forward."

As for specs on the size and capacity and lay-out for the new K-9 school, that is still to be discussed.

The school could break ground as early as next fall and would take around 1.5 to two years to complete.

For the full release visit the link here.