Parents get chance to talk MHCBE zoning
The Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education held an open house at Holy Family Parish to address parental concerns about re-zoning for École St. John Paul II School.
Instead of a formal open mic session, MHCBE opted to go with a roundtable format this time around, and have senior staff and school board trustees mingle with parents to address their concerns directly in one-on-one conversations.
Board chair Disk Mastel, superintendent Joe Colistro and secretary treasurer Greg MacPherson each made some brief remarks prior to the breakout sessions, which reiterated some of the previously proposed changes from the last school board meeting, including the fact students who currently attend Mother Teresa from the surrounding Rural 2 zone would now only receive busing to St. Mary’s and St. John Paul II. Desert Blume will only receive busing to St. Patrick’s School, and not Mother Teresa.
Dan Yonkman was one of the attentive parents on hand at the Holy Family open house. His family lives in Dunmore and his eight year-old son attends Mother Teresa; his daughter also attends pre-K at the school.
While grateful for the information presented Wednesday evening, Yonkman still felt he needed more discussion with his family before making a decision on where their kids would be attending school in 2018/2019.
“I’m not a big fan of change, no matter what,” said Yonkman. “But I think we all get to that age, and we would just like to see some consistency for our kids ... I trust the new school is amazing, and they are doing everything they can to make it amazing. I have nothing against the school. I am just at that age where I am not very happy to accept change if it is going to disrupt the kids.”
On the other hand, parents Amy Gagnier and Tyler Mailhiot, who live in Southlands, felt the open house answered many of their lingering questions.
“Moving our kids schools is a big transition for them because they are only in Grade 2 and Grade 4,” said Gagnier. “But after this presentation I am actually really excited. A new facility with all the amenities sounds wonderful. And we’ll now be within walking distance.”