EDMONTON – Edmonton Public Schools announced Tuesday that it will implement a number of strategies this fall to handle growing school populations, including changing the attendance boundaries for 11 schools.
(View maps of new attendance boundaries below)
“We need to take an action that is going to allow us to accommodate our students in a healthy environment, and putting them in over capacity buildings isn’t a healthy environment,” said Edmonton Public Schools Managing Director Lorne Parker.
“The only option we have – outside the construction of new schools – is to designate them to another school, and transport them.”
“Adding transportation does make it more complicated, but we really have no option,” he explained. “We have buildings with finite capacity. We have neighbourhoods that are growing at – what’s been described as – an astronomical rate.”
Since 2005, 46 new neighbourhoods have been served by Edmonton Public . More than 11,000 of the students who attend Edmonton public schools live in those newer areas.
“Nineteen per cent of approximately 87,000 students now reside in those neighbourhoods,” explained Parker.
Until now, to manage incredibly high levels of growth, schools have been accommodating larger class sizes, using gyms, stages and libraries as classrooms, but the school board says these adjustments are not long-term solutions.
READ MORE: Parents worried kids will be forced into new schools as EPSB buckles under student load
“While we’ve added new schools, we haven’t kept pace with the population growth,” said Parker. “The new schools that we’ve added are at capacity, or they’re nearing capacity, and will be over capacity in September if nothing is done.”
Click here to see which Edmonton public schools are affected, and what kinds of changes are being made.
The schools struggling with overcrowding and therefore included in the District Accommodation Plan are:
Dr. Donald Massey School
Elizabeth Finch School
Bessie Nichols School
Winterburn School
Brander Gardens School
Esther Starkman School
Johnny Bright School
A.Blair McPherson School
Bisset School
Ellerslie School
Michael Strembitsky School
All schools that are currently Kindergarten to Grade 9 will remain as such. However, enrollment boundaries for those schools have been shrunk.
(View maps of the new attendance areas for 11 schools below)
But, in all schools except for A. Blair McPherson and Michael Strembitsky, students already enrolled at the schools will be grandfathered in. For example, if a student already attends Ellerslie School, but now falls outside the new enrollment boundary, they will still be allowed to attend Ellerslie School until they graduate Grade 9.
At Michael Strembitsky and A.Blair McPherson schools, students in certain communities will be grandfathered in, while those in other communities will be transferred to different schools. Click here for more details. In total, 93 students from A. Blair McPherson and 354 students from Michael Strembitsky schools will not be grandfathered.
However, those students who stay at their previous school under the grandfathered option, will not have public transportation provided to them.
“The transportation will only be provided to your designated school,” explained Parker.
Edmonton Public Schools says about 20 per cent of enrolled students in the district take school buses to and from school.
Busing students to different schools – under the new attendance boundaries – will mean longer bus rides for some students.
“There are a few cases where – if you look at the neighbourhoods of Windermere going to McKee school – the ride times are significantly higher.”
Parker says the longest transportation times will be felt by students in the south west community of Windermere who will be bused to McKee School. Those bus rides will take approximately 60 minutes each way.
“It’s going to cost us anywhere from $500,000 to $600,000 more for busing next year to accommodate those students,” he added.
Public consultation also helped come to the District Accommodation Plan. The board hosted five public consultations in the form of open houses, as well as an online survey. About 9,000 people took part in the online survey.
“There are two major themes that emerged from that consultation,” said Parker. “One is to maintain the K-9 configuration, and two, to grandfather wherever possible.”
Parker says the district tried to accommodate those priorities as much as possible, but it wasn’t always the case.
READ MORE: Edmonton Public discusses ways to manage student growth
In order to make this plan – which Edmonton Public Schools says will be in place for about five years – successful, the district needs 22 additional portables.
The province has committed 10 portables. The school board will be looking purchasing 12 more at a cost of between $5 and $6 million, which will come out of its Capital Reserve Fund.
“The board will be considering a motion to purchase 12 more structures – free standing structures – from our capital reserves,” said Parker.
Final recommendations were presented to the superintendent for approval in early February. The superintendent’s decisions will be submitted to the Board of Trustees at a public board meeting on Feb. 18.
Students who attend impacted schools will be sent home with a letter containing information for parents. The information will also be posted online at epsb.ca.
“We’re empathetic with parents, because we know that it’s tough to have their child’s education disrupted, but we’re in a situation where to do nothing is not an option, we have to take an action, and we have to do it now,” said Parker.
READ MORE: Alberta government to build three new Edmonton schools
He says the new schools, many scheduled to open in 2016, will help relieve some pressures, but the overall impact is not yet known.
Dr Donald Massey Final Maps (2)
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