Students who attend Spruceland or Edgewood Elementary will still be able to attend Duchess Park Secondary school if they have a sibling that goes there.
At the Oct. 29 public meeting, School District No. 57’s (SD57) board of education passed a motion changing Spruceland Traditional and Edgewood Elementary School’s catchment areas from Duchess Park Secondary's to D.P. Todd Secondary catchment.
That means grade sevens finishing the year at Spruceland or Edgewood will start grade eight at D.P. Todd in September 2020, rather than Duchess Park.
However, Trustee Sharel Warrington introduced a notice of motion to allow sibling groups to be 'grandfathered in' to keep siblings together, despite the change to the catchment.
That motion was the subject of lengthy debate at last night’s board meeting (Dec. 3), but ultimately passed, with three trustees voting against it.
“The transfer process as we know it lacks certainty, as we know it is both time-sensitive and complex,” said Warrington, at the beginning of debate.
“The proposed transition recommendation will allow siblings to attend the same school and provide a student and their family with certainty on a smooth transition from grade seven to eight.”
The grandfathering system could affect 48 students from Spruceland and 26 from Edgewood over a number of years. This year, specifically, it would affect 10 students from Spruceland and seven students from Edgewood equaling 17 students.
“I think if we pass this motion, we are just going back on why we passed the original motion,” said Trustee Trent Derrick. “There is a serious numbers crunch in Duchess Park and that is why we moved ahead previously.”
Secretary-Treasurer Darleen Patterson said while the impact of the grandfathering system may not be felt this year for the overcapacity issues at Duchess Park, there’s potential for it to have a greater impact as the years go on.
“The way the recommendation is worded now, is that this could be prolonged,” said Chair Tim Bennett, who raised the concern that there’s no time limit on the 'grandfathering' system.
Trustee Ron Polillo noted he was personally affected by the policy, as he has two daughters in different schools and although it was difficult at first, it had been ultimately beneficial.
“If anyone can relate to this, I can,” said Polillo, “but my concern is that this will have a profound effect on Duchess Park conceivably the next four or five years.”
Bennett eventually introduced a motion that would limit the grandfathering to just the 2020-21 school year, allowing families to have a year to adjust to the new catchment areas, but it was defeated by the other trustees.
“I am asking you to think about the family that has a grade seven child has a sibling in grade eight or nine or 10 and wants their children to stay together,” said Warrington.
“I feel for the families. I feel for the children and I know our teachers and administrators do too.”
After much debate, when the issue eventually came down to a debate, the “grandfathering” passed with Chair Bennett and Warrington, Shuirsoe Valimohamed and Bob Thompson voting in favour and Trustees Derrick, Polillo and Betty Bekkering voting against.
