EDMONTON — Michael Strembitsky School is again looking for ways to redirect and redistribute students as the number of children in south Edmonton continues to boom.
On Nov. 24, Edmonton Public Schools is holding a meeting to gather feedback from parents and community members on four proposals. They’ll have to decide how to redefine attendance boundaries for the school and choose which students will be allowed to attend and which will have to go to another school.
“In just two years, the number of children between the ages of newborn to four has grown from 550 kids to 880 — an extra 330 children in just two years,” said Christopher Wright, Edmonton Public School district’s acting managing director of planning.
“Students and families are feeling the impact of the continued growth and how it’s impacting class sizes and learning spaces,” said Wright.
“We need to address this issue until various new schools open in the area.”
In October, the NDP government said there will be a major delay in completing new schools and modernizing others. The education minster said the previous government’s unrealistic promises and timelines were to blame.
READ MORE: Major delay in school construction projects, says Alberta’s education minister
“Our ultimate and sincere goal is to bring students back to their community school,” added Wright.
Michael Strembitsky School is located in the Summerside neighbourhood, which has seen a significant increase of young families in the last several years.
In February 2014, Edmonton Public announced it was shrinking attendance boundaries for 11 schools, including Michael Strembitsky, to handle growth.
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“The only option we have, outside the construction of new schools, is to designate them to another school, and transport them,” said Edmonton Public Schools Managing Director Lorne Parker, on Feb. 18.
READ MORE: Edmonton Public will shrink enrolment boundaries to handle growth
The Nov. 24 meeting is to plan for the “rapidly growing school population and look at options to help make room at our school for the 2016-2017 school year and beyond.”
The proposed options, posted on the school’s website, include:
- Move Kindergarten to Satoo School for Sept. 2016. For Sept. 2017, move both Kindergarten and Grade 1 to Satoo School;
- For Sept. 2016, re-direct all grandfathered students from Summerside West to Satoo and Dan Knott schools and re-designate the northeast area of Summerside to Ellerslie Campus.
- Move Kindergarten to Ellerslie Campus for Sept. 2016 and both Kindergarten and Grade 1 to Ellerslie Campus for Sept. 2017. Ellerslie would need free-standing portables for the fall of 2017.
- Move Kindergarten to Satoo for Sept. 2016 and both Kindergarten and Grade 1 to Satoo for Sept. 2017. For the fall of 2016, re-designate the northeast area of Summerside to Ellerslie Campus. Ellerslie would need free-standing portables.
To view maps and details for all four options, visit the school’s website.
Parents and community members are also invited to share their thoughts online.
“We put a lot of time and effort looking at various options by working with census data, the city, developers, students transportation and the community,” Wright said.
The option that is chosen will have to be in place for two years, the district said, to accommodate construction delays and settling enrolment.
The superintendent will make the final decision late this year.
“No decision will be made until we first hear feedback from families,” said Wright. “What they think truly matters to us.”
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