Students at the city's independent elementary schools will have to wait until next month to know if they'll remain at the back of the line when it comes to transferring to publicly-run high schools next year.
School board trustee Valentine Crawford confirmed Tuesday the issue will be up for discussion at the next policy and governance committee meeting, scheduled for March 9. If the committee members come up with a proposed change, it will be taken to the school board's March 29 regular monthly meeting.
"It is on the agenda," Crawford said of the policy and governance committee's next meeting. "We won't have any answers about what's coming forward and when until we've had time to sit down and chat."
Sandy Ramsay, a parent of a St. Mary's school student said she's hoping to see him transfer to Duchess Park once he's completed Grade 7, and said the sooner a solution is found the better.
"I know Duchess Park had a parent-teacher meeting last week which we missed out on, because we don't know if we're part of that school or not," she said.
School board trustees approved a revamped catchment area and transfer policy on Jan. 25 that failed to indicate whether independent schools in Prince George are out of catchment.
That's important because for schools where space is limited, students with a sibling already at the school are at the top of the waiting list, followed by students within the school's catchment and then those attending out-of-catchment schools.
Independent school parents maintain they should not be singled out and note they pay the same amount of taxes into the public system that other parents do in addition to fees over and above that amount so their children can go to the independents.
D.P. Todd is the closest high school for Ramsay and her family but she's hoping the school board will designate Duchess Park as a feeder school for St. Mary's.
