Riding out the school space crisis
Editorials are the consensus view of the Journal’s editorial board , comprising Margo Good hand , Kathy Kerr, Sarah O’Donnell , Brian Tucker and David Evans.
To tackle the very current problem of Edmonton’s suburban school space crisis, the city’s public school district revealed a plan Tuesday that relies heavily on an old-fashioned solution: school buses.
The precise changes for each of the 11 crowded elementary and junior high schools, along with the number of children affected at each location, vary. But in broad strokes, the plan caps enrolment at the oversubscribed schools in new northern, western and southern neighbourhoods by shrinking attendance boundaries, and redraws the map so students will travel by buses to a greater variety of older schools in mature neighbourhoods.
These changes will upset some families; it is difficult to imagine a scenario in this complicated puzzle of geography, relationships and available classroom space that will make everyone happy. But there are 11,000 students living in 46 new neighbourhoods created since 2005 and a limited number of new schools developed since then. Short of setting up schools in yurts, the only option for the next several years is to redistribute students within existing schools until new facilities open closer to home.
Right now, about 8,500 Edmonton public board students take yellow buses to school daily, either because they attend an alternative program, a special education program or because there is no school in their neighbourhood.
With Tuesday’s suburban school plan, officials did not sugar-coat the new potential travel times, which will range from 30 to 60 minutes. The longest routes will be for elementary students in Windermere, near Anthony Henday Drive, who will be directed to McKee School, near Southgate Mall.
Some parents may look at these bus rides as a deal breaker, though rural families accustomed to hour-long, one-way bus trips that criss-cross rural roads will have little sympathy for Edmonton parents complaining about ride times that go beyond half an hour.
Still, given the upheaval these choices will bring to families, district transportation experts need to spend the next months drafting the most logical routes that minimize travel time. Those routes should be practised and timed during rush hour, so there are no surprises come September.
This situation also presents an excellent opportunity for sensible collaboration between the city’s two school districts on busing. A year ago, the two school boards announced they would study the possibility of a joint transportation plan. The Catholic district serves about 7,300 students by yellow bus and is wrestling with the same suburban crowding problems, albeit on a smaller scale.
Sharing buses, and allowing public and Catholic students to ride those buses at the same time if they are heading to schools near each other, makes sense. Bus rides are about safe, efficient transportation and have nothing to do with religious values.
If this school overcrowding helps herald efficiencies in transportation, it will be a silver lining in a difficult situation.
One of the best features of Edmonton’s school system — public and Catholic — is that students still have choices. Though attendance at these 11 public schools will be capped based on geography, most other schools in the city can accept students regardless of their postal code.
If families are not satisfied with the Edmonton Public school proposed for their child under the district’s plan, they can seek out a different school with space. A bus ride is a reasonable price to pay for appropriate class sizes and the flexibility of alternative programs.