The school district is considering adjustments to school catchment areas, as officials are anticipating Squamish Elementary will become overcrowded by 2023.
On Jan. 13, the board of the Sea to Sky School District held its monthly meeting, during which it heard arguments in favour of making those changes.
During the meeting, secretary-treasurer Mohammed Azim said shifting the catchment boundaries will 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, he said. 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 Skyridge and Tantalus areas will be adjusted. This will result in 20 students moving from Mamquam to the Brackendale school, Azim said.
"To reduce the pressure in the coming years and for the long term in Squamish Elementary, one of the easiest solutions that we see right off the bat, when it came to the options we were working with, was to basically review the catchment boundaries within those three areas," he said.
A staff report to the board said all of the above potential catchment area changes will not exceed the District-approved primary walk limits of 3.2 kilometres."
Azim said considerations are being made to prevent families from being separated.
Children who are entering school will have the option of attending the same school as their older sibling.
The school district report said boundary changes will only apply to future students who are of kindergarten age starting September 2023 or later.
The school board intends to notify families and host a survey on its website to solicit feedback.
An online town hall meeting is expected to be scheduled on March 17, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
