Media Release – Greater Victoria School District Seeks Input from Parents on Catchment Boundary Review
Catchment boundaries are the geographical areas that determine which students are eligible to attend a specific school. The Greater Victoria School District is seeking public input on important considerations when re-evaluating catchment boundary borders.
Due to increasing enrolment and limited space in some of its schools, the District must align registration with schools’ capacities. Some schools are full and enrolment projections indicate an additional 1,800 students may enroll in the District over the next 10 years. To accommodate the growing student population, the District must balance registration across the District with the space available at each catchment school.
“For many years, the District saw a decrease in student enrolment that gave students greater flexibility to transfer across catchment boundaries and attend any school of their choice in our District,” noted Superintendent Shelley Green. “We are now seeing significant growth in our District and are facing space pressures in some of our neighbourhood schools. We need to ensure that we are able to accommodate all current and future catchment students.”
In 2017, the Board of Education approved student enrolment priorities that placed priority on catchment students and keeping siblings together. The student enrolment priorities were the first recommendation outlined in the District’s Long-term Facilities Plan followed by a recommendation to review catchment boundaries in order to prepare for changing neighbourhood demographics and the increased student population.
As part of the review, a District working group has been created in collaboration with the Facilities Committee that has staff, trustee and parent representation. The group is now seeking public input to make recommendations to the Board about proposed boundary changes. The information collected will help inform the new proposed boundaries.
In efforts to reach as many parents and guardians as possible across the District, an online survey is available to collect input from the public. This is phase one of the consultation process. The survey results will be brought back to the Board in December 2018 before the District draws the proposed new catchment boundaries.
The survey is also available in print and is being translated in five different languages (Spanish, Filipino, Arabic, Mandarin and Punjabi). These surveys will be made available at the District Board Office (556 Boleskine Road). The survey will close Friday, November 30, 2018 at 4 p.m.
Parent/Guardian Survey: www.surveymonkey.com/r/YVYHBHL
Phase two of the consultation process will take place in early 2019. The District will then host open houses and consult on the new proposed draft boundaries. A summary of “What We Heard” outlining the process and the input collected throughout the process will be available for the public, the Committee and the Board’s review in the Spring of 2019.
The Board of Education will determine the new catchment boundaries in the Spring of 2019. The new catchment boundaries will not be implemented until September 2020.
For additional resources, background information, and consultation timelines please visit: www.sd61.bc.ca/catchment-boundary-review/