School board trustees made some final adjustments to its recently-revised school catchment area policy on Tuesday night to address concerns raised by parents with children in Prince George's independent elementary schools.
Changes trustees approved in January left those parents worried their children would be left at the back of the line when it comes to transferring to publicly-run high schools next year.
The policy failed to indicate failed to indicate whether independent schools in Prince George are out-of-catchment and that's important because at schools where space is limited, students with a sibling already at the school are at the top of the waiting list, followed by students within the school's catchment and then those attending out-of-catchment schools.
In answer, trustees unanimously approved five further revisions:
- The term "catchment area child" was redefined to mean anyone "of school age residing in a catchment area of a school" as opposed to one who is registered in the school district or is of kindergarten age and entitled to register in the school district.
- The definition of a "non-school district child" was changed to be a person of school age who lives in B.C. but is not in the school district. The previous definition is a person of school age who is not currently registered in a school district school or program.
- Wording in a section regarding Grades 1-12 students and who may register in a regular or choice program was changed to "students new to the school district" from "new students."
- A section that required non-school district students who resided during the previous year in the school district to apply through the transfer process was deleted in favour of one that states registration for students wishing to enter either a regular or choice program in September of the next school year will occur during the first week of March.
Trustees fell short of designating Duchess Park secondary as the "feeder school" for all of the city's Catholic elementary schools.
"We treated them the same as all our other schools and I think that's only fair," trustee Lois Boone said.
