Parents are so determined to get their children into Duchess Park Secondary School that they are enrolling them in two feeder elementary schools even though they live outside their catchment areas, school board trustees were told Tuesday night.
The news was enough to prompt trustees to vote 4-3 to add Harwin and Ron Brent elementary to the list of schools where enrolment will be restricted to catchment-only students for the 2019-20 school year.
Trustee Ron Polillo, who chairs the education services committee, said there have been "cases of cases of parents finding their way around the system to get their children into Duchess Park."
"We know there is some of that happening at Harwin and Ron Brent, that parents are specifically enrolling their kids in those schools because they know that when they do that, they've got a way into Duchess Park," he added.
When asked how many students were in that situation, secretary-treasurer Darleen Patterson said the school district has noticed a number of students from a variety of other schools registering in Grades 6 and 7 so that they can get into Duchess Park.
"I can't tell you a definitive number, but we are noticing an uptick in (Grades) 6 and 7 registrations," she said.
Trustees Sharel Warrington, Trent Derrick and Shuirose Valimohamed voted against the move while Polillo was joined by board chair Tim Bennett and trustees Betty Bekkering and Bob Thompson voting in favour.
Saying there is "so much movement" in the Duchess Park family of elementary schools, Warrington expressed concern that students who attend Harwin or Ron Brent would no longer be able to continue at those schools if they move out of their catchment areas.
"I worry that by restricting enrolment to catchment-only students in those two schools that we may be having some issues around how students are welcomed in the school or how families feel they can be moving in and out of neighbourhoods," Warrington said. "And many of these people move in and out of neighbourhoods out of necessity."
In response, Patterson said they can continue to attend those schools for the rest of their school lives "depending on transition issues," and later noted the school district covers the cost of transportation for families who can't afford it.
Derrick questioned the seriousness of the problem.
"If there are a few that are abusing it, you don't change a whole policy," he said.
As of Sept. 30, enrollment at Duchess Park was 1,030 or 130 students above capacity as listed by the Ministry of Education.
The catchment-only restriction currently applies to seven other schools and they will remain on the list for the 2019-20 school year: Southridge Elementary, College Heights Secondary, Heritage Elementary, Edgewood Elementary, Duchess Park Secondary (regular program only), Glenview Elementary, Hart Highlands Elementary and Springwood Elementary.
As well, kindergarten enrollment will be limited to 60 students at Ecole Lac Des Bois and to 40 at Spruceland Traditional Elementary, Polaris Montessori Elementary and in the French immersion program at College Elementary.
And both McBride Centennial and McBride Secondary will continue in their current configurations.
