You may not get the school you want

Reinstatement of catchment areas recommended around 3 elementary schools in south-central Kelowna

Parents in south-central Kelowna will no longer be able to freely send their children to any elementary school in the area if the school board approves reinstating catchment areas around three of the schools.

Currently, there is an open catchment area around A.S. Matheson Elementary, Casorso Elementary and Raymer Elementary, meaning parents can choose whichever school they prefer as long as space is available.

The proposed change puts boundaries around each of the three elementary schools and expands the catchment area around South Kelowna Elementary.

The open catchment system has been in place in the Central Okanagan since the early 2000s, said Larry Paul, the school district’s secretary-treasurer.

Before that, parents had to seek permission to send their children to schools outside their catchment area.

The provincial government has since introduced legislation stating parents have the right to choose which schools to send their kids to, but that students will be accepted on a priority basis, with a focus on living in the catchment area.

Reinstating the boundaries will help eliminate confusion about which school to attend and also help balance the student population among the four schools, said Paul.

“South Kelowna (Elementary) is significantly under capacity, so moving kids in that direction will help that school remain sustainable.”

Parents will still be able to select their preferred school during registration, but priority will be given to people living within the catchment area.

“That way, you don’t get a situation where I live across the street but I can’t go to the school because it’s full,” said Paul. “If you live across the street, you’ll now get priority to get into that school.”

However, Paul said the changes will not affect current students of the four elementary schools.

“The No. 1 priority of the board is if you’re a member of that school, you remain a member of that school until you decide to leave or until you move on to another school,” he said.

“Current attending students will not be affected; it will have an effect on incoming students on a priority basis.”

At Wednesday’s planning and facilities committee meeting, the committee supported the changes to the catchment areas.

The next stage will be taking the proposal to the board for approval.

The changes will likely be put into effect by September 2018.

The district has been slowly reinstating catchment areas around schools throughout the Central Okanagan, said Paul.

After south-central Kelowna, the last two areas needing changes to catchment areas are Rutland and Glenrosa, both of which currently have the open catchment system.