Rutland may face long wait for new school

School board review of catchment areas complicated by uncertainty over Rutland Middle School

Replacement of Rutland Middle School could be years away, says Central Okanagan school board chairperson Moyra Baxter.

“It’s the Ministry of Education that will decide whether or not we can rebuild Rutland Middle,” Baxter said Thursday. “The stark fact is there is no land anywhere in Rutland that we could build on that would accommodate a middle school because all the land that would be suitable is in the Agricultural Land Reserve.”

The only options would be to knock down the current middle school and rebuild on that site, or to use an existing elementary school site, she said.

The board had been planning to use the existing Quigley Elementary site, but the ministry rejected that proposal.

“The ministry said we’re just such a fast-growing district that they didn’t approve us getting rid of one of our elementary sites,” said Baxter.

During a discussion at Wednesday’s school board meeting, trustees indicated they did not want to look at establishing catchment areas for all Rutland schools until they knew what was happening with Rutland Middle.

Instead, the board voted to move forward with reviewing catchment areas only for Black Mountain and Ellison elementary schools.

“I argued it could be many years before we get a middle school,” said Baxter. “I do not think that the board should stop making decisions because we don’t know what’s happening in the future.”

Rutland is currently the only area in the district with an open catchment system.

The board moved to approve a catchment review for Black Mountain and Ellison elementary schools, with the primary reason being to determine transportation eligibility for students.

It also moved to approve a catchment review for Bankhead and Watson Road elementary schools in the Glenmore area.

In that case, catchment lines run through a new subdivision.

Staff will conduct the reviews and come back to the board for approval.