The Greater Victoria School Board will move ahead in considering 31 recommendations to redraw the catchment boundaries for its 47 schools, with some “tweaks” to acknowledge community concerns.
“It’s a huge undertaking to redraw all the boundaries, so that’s why we only do it every 20 years or so,” school board chairwoman Jordan Watters said Wednesday.
Consultations will continue with communities most affected by the recommendations, which will return to the school board on May 23 for final consideration.
The board decision to proceed was made Tuesday after a heated meeting that attracted about 50 parents. Many were concerned about plans to change the K-5 Cloverdale Traditional School on Quadra Street and South Park Family School in James Bay from destination to neighbourhood schools.
For the past several years, Cloverdale has emphasized a structured environment that includes school uniforms, while South Park has focused on parent participation, art and nature.
Watters said the board has no plans to disrupt the unique character of any school.
Students at Cloverdale, for example, can continue to wear uniforms, although it won’t be mandatory for incoming kindergarten children. “We would no longer be saying: ‘You must be wearing a uniform,’ ” Watters said.
All schools will revert to neighbourhood schools serving the surrounding catchment zone. Students living in catchment zones will be given first dibs on admission to their assigned schools over the previous “schools of choice” model.
Parents of students living outside a school’s catchment zone can still apply to a chosen school, but space might not be available, since neighbourhood kids are first in line.
Watters said the changes will be adopted gradually, beginning with incoming kindergarten students. “With any of these changes, nobody is expected to have to leave their school.”
The school board’s catchment-boundary review began in 2018, a response to a growing student body. The Greater Victoria school district is the largest in the region, with 20,000 students and another 1,800 expected in the next 10 years.
The increase follows on the heels of a years-long decline in enrolment that saw the Greater Victoria School Board close seven elementary schools from 2003 to 2007.
Watters said that during the consultation process for the catchment-boundary review, the board has listened to many local concerns, adjusting a boundary, for example, to take into account something like a cul de sac that provides good access to students walking to a particular school.
“We have been able to make a number of tweaks to our plan to address neighbourhood-specific concerns,” she said. “The big pieces can get a lot of focus. But all these little tiny tweaks will have big impacts toward making our schools more accessible to neighbourhood kids.”
Consultation meetings
Several catchment-boundary review meetings are planned next week:
• Cloverdale, May 7, 7-8 p.m.
• South Park, May 7, 7-8 p.m.
• Margaret Jenkins, May 8, 7-8 p.m.
• Richmond, May 8, 7-8 p.m.
• Quadra, May 9, 7-8 p.m.
• McKenzie, May 9, 7-8 p.m.
