Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Greater Victoria School District Seeks Input on New Proposed Catchment Boundaries
Victoria, BC – The Greater Victoria School District will be hosting open houses in February to gather input on new proposed school boundaries. The Board of Education passed a motion at Monday night’s Board meeting enabling the District to proceed with consultation on proposed school catchments.
The District is proposing new school boundaries due to increasing enrolment and limited space in some of its schools. It has been approximately 20 years since the District last reviewed school catchments. The District’s student population continues to grow significantly and smaller class size legislation has impacted the availability of space in schools.
“In the past four years, the District has seen nearly 1,000 additional students register in our schools,” noted Superintendent Shelley Green. “Some schools are already full and long-term projections indicate a steady increase in the student population. The District must balance enrolment across the entire District to prepare for future growth.”
The proposed boundary changes are responsive to feedback received from a public survey during phase one of the catchment boundary review. In the Fall of 2018, the District started collecting input from the public to help inform the process of reconsidering school boundaries. The District heard from more than 5,100 members of the community, which included students and parents and guardians of current and future students.
“The Board is looking forward to receiving further input from the community. We want to ensure our decision-making process is open and transparent, so community engagement is very important to us,” shared Board Chair Jordan Watters. “Input provided through the survey helped to inform guiding considerations and identify important factors for families and specific neighbourhoods. However, while the Board makes every effort to accommodate all recommendations, the District has limited flexibility given the number of students it must accommodate.”
“The District is trying to limit the amount of change for its students and families,” added Superintendent Green. “These are never easy decisions and the District has tried to be thoughtful when considering all of the potential options and outcomes. Unfortunately, there is no option where everything can remain the same so we are trying to find the best solution. We hope through further consultation we are able to find the solutions that accommodate and take into consideration all members of our learning community.”
See Catchment Boundary Review Brochure for an overview of the proposed boundary changes, important and guiding considerations, and the survey results. Please find it attached.
To review the proposed catchment boundary changes in detail, use the District’s Interactive Digital Map at: www.sd61.bc.ca/schools/school-catchment-boundaries/
OPEN HOUSES:
Open House #1
Wednesday, February 6th, 2019
6:30 p.m.—8:30 p.m.
Spectrum Community School
In Gymnasium B
Open House #2
Wednesday, February 13th, 2019
6:30 p.m.—8:30 p.m.
Lansdowne Middle School
In the Gymnasium
Open House #3
Saturday, February 16th, 2019
8:30 a.m.—11:30 a.m.
Victoria High School
In Andrews Gymnasium
For additional information visit: www.sd61.bc.ca/catchment-boundary-review
The Board of Education will review all input collected on the proposed boundaries and will make a decision on the proposed boundaries this Spring.
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For more information, please contact:
Lisa McPhail
Communications & Community Engagement
Greater Victoria School District
Office: 250.475.4103
www.sd61.bc.ca | @sd61schools