Last week the provincial government announced a $144.5-million capital investment that will provide 665 new classrooms needed to accommodate full-day kindergarten in September 2011, including 133 newly designed modular classrooms (see attached Ministry of Education media release).

A request for proposals for the construction of the modular classrooms was issued on June 14th, and School District 5 is currently assessing if its current enrolment will require additional classrooms.

According to SD5 Board Chair Frank Lento the District does not have room in some of its Cranbrook schools to accommodate full day kindergarten once it is fully implemented in September 2011. However, the Ministry of Education does look at whether Districts can first reconfigure catchment areas of all existing schools to accommodate increased enrolment in individual schools.

“Before we can submit a proposal for a modular classroom we need to be sure we don’t have underused space in other Cranbrook elementary schools, and that means we may need to adjust our current catchment areas,” explained Lento, who defined school catchment areas as the geographic area from which students are eligible to attend a local school.

According to Cranbrook Trustee Trina Ayling, SD5 trustee representative for Kootenay Orchards and Amy Woodland elementary schools, there’s been a pattern of growth in Cranbrook recently, especially in the areas around these two schools. Kootenay Orchards, for example, is at full capacity with two half day kindergarten classes starting up this fall, and full day classrooms needed in 2011.

“As things stand now we could probably use two modular classrooms to accommodate the enrolment increases we see at Kootenay Orchards alone,” said Ayling.

Lento recognizes that it is problematic any time you change catchment areas for schools, so the SD5 Board is trying to be as pro-active as possible and has undertaken a number of initiatives to address the enrolment challenges, including implementing a new software system that helps identify and collate enrolment information in a more timely and cost effective manner.

“In order to ensure that students can attend the school closest to their home, we need to know where these kids live,” said Lento. “And not just elementary-aged kids; we need to know where the pre-schoolers who’ll be attending school a couple of years from now live as well. We should have a clear idea of present and future enrolment needs by September.”

Ayling assures parents that even with catchment area changes parents will still be able to request their child attend a school outside their catchment area and as long as there is space available there’s no problem.

“SD5 has also revised the process of applying to a non-catchment school easier for parents, by responding to requests for the upcoming school year as early as June of the current year. Previously families had to wait until the first day of school to find out if their child could attend the requested school, which obviously did not allow for much time or planning for parents.”

Lento expects consultations in Cranbrook around catchment areas to begin this fall. “We want to have our catchment areas defined by January 2011, the month that registration for the upcoming school year traditionally begins.”

According to Ayling the SD5 Board will be working hard to minimize any disruption that could occur as a result of catchment changes.

“Parents have told me many times that they don’t want their kids uprooted from their current school community, and they want younger siblings to be able to attend the same school as their older siblings,” said Ayling. “I believe the idea of a neighbourhood school is very important to this Board. We’ll be working hard to maintain that objective.”