Edmonton Public School district officials released final decisions regarding their plans to manage nearly a dozen schools in the city dealing with overcrowding Tuesday, after a public consultation process.
The decisions were released in the wake of a series of public meetings with hundreds of parents, school staff and community members, in addition to an online survey conducted in early January – all surrounding 11 schools in the public school district that have been dealing with enrollment pressures in recent years.
The district said since 2005, 46 new neighbourhoods were added to those being served by Edmonton Public, and 11,000 of the district’s total number of students lived in those neighourhoods.
The overcrowding issues at some schools have forced school officials to hold classes in school gymnasiums and staff rooms.
Some of the more challenging enrollment pressures reported have been at schools in developing neighbourhoods, such as Bessie Nichols School, Johnny Bright School and Esther Starkman School, all three are affected by changes announced Tuesday.
Final recommendations taken from information gathered during the public meetings and through the survey were presented to the Superintendent for approval in early February.
Changes released Tuesday are the final decisions to deal with overcrowding at the schools.
Decisions for each of the schools differed slightly, most involved changes to enrollment areas.
In many cases, current students and their siblings were grandfathered, or allowed to stay at the schools in question.
However, a few of the schools: Brander Gardens School, A. Blair McPherson School, Bisset School and Michael Strembitsky School are partially enacting grandfathering for some students depending on the area they live in, some of the decisions also affect siblings of current students.
Edmonton Public said the solutions released Tuesday are estimated to cost $6.6 million – with $600,000 going to pay for transportation, and $6 million to pay for twelve portables the board needs to buy - the cost will also leave the Edmonton Public School Board's Capital Reserve Fund with about $1 million.
Due to the solutions, 447 students will have to move to a new school in September.
A breakdown of major changes to each of the schools is as follows:
Dr. Donald Massey School
- Will remain as Kindergarten to Grade 9 school
- Matt Berry and Hollick-Kenyon neighbourhoods are attendance areas for the school
- Brintnell neighbourhood removed from attendance area – affected students to attend Delwood School
- Current students and siblings grandfathered
Elizabeth Finch School
- School will maintain Kindergarten to Grade 9 status
- New attendance areas in Carlton and Oxford neighbourhoods
- Albany, Cumberland and Hudson neighbourhoods removed from attendance area
- Albany K-6 students to attend Lorelei School, junior high students to attend Mary Butterworth School
- Cumberland K-6 students to attend Caernarvon School, junior high-aged students to go to Rosslyn School
- Hudson elementary students to attend McArthur School, junior high-aged students to attend Rosslyn School
- Current students and siblings grandfathered
Bessie Nichols School
- Will continue as a Kindergarten to Grade 9 school
- The Hamptons is the attendance area
- Granville and Glastonbury neighbourhood removed from attendance area
- Granville K-6 students to attend Lymburn School
- Glastonbury K-6 students to attend Ormsby School
- Junior high-aged students from both neighbourhoods to attend Hillcrest School
- Current students and siblings grandfathered
Winterburn School
- Will continue to be a Kindergarten to Grade 9 school
- New attendance areas is Webber Greens, Suder Greens, Potter Greens, Breckenridge Greens, and Westview Village
- Secord neighbourhood removed from attendance area
- Elementary-aged students to move to Youngstown School, junior-high aged students to attend Britannia School
- Current students and siblings grandfathered
Brander Gardens School
- Attendance areas are Brander Gardens, Ramsey Heights, Magrath, MacTaggart, Hodgson
- Current students grandfathered, but sibling rule suspended for students outside of Brander Gardens, Ramsey Heights, Macgrath, MacTaggart, and Hodgson
- Windermere North, Windermere South and Ambleside neighbourhoods removed from attendance areas
- Windermere students to move to McKee School
- Ambleside students to move to Brookside School
Esther Starkman School
- Grade 8 will be restored for 2014 school year, Grade 9 restored the following school year
- Terwillegar Towne neighbourhood is attendance area
- Leger and Terwillegar South neighbourhoods removed from attendance areas
- Elementary students living in Leger to move to George H. Luck School, junior high students to move to Riverbend School
- Terwillegar South elementary-aged students to move to Lansdowne School, junior high –aged students to move to Avalon School
- Current students and siblings grandfathered
Johnny Bright School
- Grade 8 to be restored for the 2014 school year, with Grade 9 restored the following school year
- Rutherford neighbourhood is an attendance area
- MacEwan, Blackburne, Blackmud Creek and Richford neighbourhoods removed from attendance area
- MacEwan elementary-aged students to move to Steinhauer School, junior high-aged students to move to D.S. McKenzie School
- Elementary-aged students in Blackburne, Blackmud Creek and Richford areas to move to Duggan School, junior high students to move to D.S. McKenzie
- Attendance area for school to remain closed
- Current students and siblings grandfathered
A. Blair McPherson School
- Will remain as a Kindergarten to Grade 9 school
- Tamarack neighbourhood (excluding Tamarack Common) is attendance area
- Current students living in Maple, Tamarack, Tamarack Common and Wild Rose grandfathered
- All current junior high students grandfathered regardless of where they live
- Sibling rule suspended for students living outside of Maple, Tamarack Common, and Wild Rose neighbourhoods
- Tamarack Common, Maple and Wildrose neighbourhood removed from attendance area
- Elementary-aged students in Tamarack Common to move to Jackson Heights School, junior-high aged students to attend Edith Rogers School
- Maple elementary-aged students to move to Julia Kiniski School, junior high-aged students to move to Ottewell School
- Wild Rose elementary-aged students to move to Velma E. Baker School, with junior high-aged students moving to Ottewell School
Bisset School
- Bisset and Silver Berry West neighbourhoods set as attendance area
- Current students grandfathered, but sibling rule suspended for students living outside of Bisset and Silver Berry West
- Silver Berry East neighbourhood removed from attendance area – affected students to attend Minchau School
Ellerslie School
- Will remain a Kindergarten to Grade 9 school
- Charlesworth neighbourhood is attendance area
- Walker neighbourhood removed from attendance area – elementary-aged students to move to Crawford Plains School, junior high-aged students to attend Dan Knott School
- All current students and siblings grandfathered
Michael Strembitsky School
- Will remain as Kindergarten to Grade 9 school
- Summerside East neighbourhood (east of 88 Street SW, bordered by Ellerslie Road, 66 Street SW and 25 Avenue SW) is attendance area
- Current students and siblings living on the west side of Summerside, between 91 Street SW and 88 Street SW grandfathered
- Sibling rule suspended for students living outside of Summerside East, inclusion of Summerside West in this decision under review
- Students living in Ellerslie (Crossing and Station), and Orchards neighbourhoods will be re-directed from Michael Strembitsky
- Ellerslie (Crossing and Station), Summerside West, and Orchards neighourhoods removed from attendance area
- Elementary-aged students in Ellerslie moved to Sakaw School
- Summerside West elementary-aged students to move to Satoo School,
- Orchards elementary-aged students to attend Menisa School
- All affected junior high-aged students to move to Dan Knot School
With files from Serena Mah
