The Sea to Sky School District says a proposed catchment area change for elementary children is the most economical means to accommodate Squamish's growing population.
On March 17, School District 48 held a public town hall where officials explained how shifting the boundaries could save schools hundreds of thousands — or even millions — of dollars that would otherwise have been used for renovations or new portables.
"The dilemma is that every time we put a portable in, we take...[money] out of our operating budget and the word 'operating' really translates to services to students," said Rick Price, chair of the school board.
"So the dilemma for the board and senior staff is what's the most effective way to support students with a limited amount of money?"The online meeting was sparsely attended. There were only four members of the public registered, and only one — a reporter for The Chief — was present.
School officials said they'd conducted a review with a demographer that pointed toward population growth putting pressure on Squamish facilities between 2022 and 2023.Secretary-treasurer Mohammed Azim said that Valleycliffe Elementary, Squamish Elementary, Mamquam Elementary and Brackendale Elementary will be affected by this growth.
The options to address those increases could be renovations, the addition of portables, the shifting of school catchment areas, or a combination of all of the above.However, in the case of Squamish, Mamquam and Brackendale, shifting the catchments may be the best choice, Azim said.
Squamish Elementary is poised to become overcrowded, so the catchment boundaries would shuffle about 60 students from Squamish Elementary to Mamquam Elementary's catchment area.This will involve adjustments to parts of the Northyards and Loggers Lane areas, which currently feed to Squamish Elementary. A portion of those areas will start feeding into Mamquam Elementary instead.
Then, in order to keep Mamquam Elementary from receiving too many new students, some children in Mamquam's catchment will be transferred to Brackendale Elementary.To accomplish this, catchment boundaries in the Skyridge and Tantalus areas will be adjusted. This will result in 20 students moving from Mamquam to the Brackendale school.
Boundary changes will only apply to future students who are of kindergarten age starting September 2023 or later. Children who are entering school will have the option of attending the same school as their older sibling.While the addition of portables may be necessary in some cases, authorities said changing catchments to redistribute students to schools with extra space will be a big cost-saver, as well as the least intrusive.
Ian Currie, director of operations, said while some have suggested simply building more portables, using that as the sole solution would be costly."It's not really easier, and it's also a fairly expensive option, to be putting portables on a site," said Currie.
"Those are all funded through individual districts. There's no capital funding provided by the Ministry of Education for portables. So each district is tasked with paying for those themselves, so that in a worst-case scenario that would come out of education funding."Currie said that commutes to school should not be any longer than they are now, as boundaries will be drawn according to the current walk limit of 3.2 kilometres.
"It wouldn't increase transit time dramatically, it wouldn't require any further bussing or anything like that," he said.He added that there may be no need to change catchment boundaries if the population does not increase by 2023 as predicted, but noted the demographers working on the projections believe growth is highly likely.
A video of the meeting is up on the Sea to Sky School District website, and the public is welcome to provide feedback on the matter.The issue is expected to be put to a vote before the school board around June this year.
