The first week of school is over, but one Prince George parent is still waiting to hear where her child will end up.
Elisabeth Veeken had been holding out hope her son, first on the waitlist for Duchess Park, would join his older sister at the high school but she learned this week that wasn't going to happen. The 13-year-old is moving from St. Mary's - a private school with Catholic Independent Schools - and Veeken is frustrated with both it and School District 57 for what she feels is a failure to notify parents well ahead of time that keeping her kids together would be a problem.
"We were not ever told ahead of time it would be a problem and historically it hadn't been a problem and our older children had gone in without a problem and we've just been met with not a lot of concern by the district about our children, not a lot of empathy," said Veeken, adding her catchment high school, Kelly Road secondary, isn't an option because her son's bullies go there.
"It's really disappointing to know that you're sending your children into a system that really appears to not care about the individual."
Her son was one of at least 40 students on the waitlist for Duchess Park, which St. Mary's historically fed into. A 2015 facility report said Duchess Park was over its capacity of 900 students in 2013 and forecast it would reach 128 per cent capacity by 2023.
Prince George secondary school is also full, so she's waiting to hear if her son will get into her third choice of school, DP Todd.
Veeken and friend Lynne Thanos - whose son is second on the waitlist - spoke before the school board and chair Tony Cable in May to plead their case. Cable said it should have been clear then that a spot wasn't guaranteed.
"I believe the district did communicate this to the parents but unfortunately we didn't give the answer they were looking for," said Cable, adding the district's first responsibility are to children in the public system in feeder schools and then to accommodate others after that.
"Keeping siblings together that is definitely the most important thing but the waters get muddied a little bit when you're moving from a private school to a public school."
Thanos said it feels like parents are being penalized for putting their children in faith-based schools.
"(No) accommodation is made to support this personal choice when the transition to high school is to occur, even though the previous years have an established procedure of transitioning to the school," wrote Thanos, who is still trying to get the board to agree that St. Mary's be considered an official feeder school.
Veeken is frustrated by the blooming numbers of French Immersion students taking up space she feels should be limited. The district is divided into catchment areas, with elementary schools that feed into high schools. French immersion students funnel into Duchess Park regardless of where the families live in the city.
Last year 257 French immersion students were enrolled in high school grades, 45 of which graduated last year, according to a recent report by Canadian Parents for French. That report showed 73 Grade 7 students headed for Duchess Park in Grade 8, though it's not guaranteed all would have chosen to continue French immersion.
"They've allowed it to grow unchecked," said Veeken, who argued for a cap on French immersion students - something Cable said the district hasn't discussed. "I do think the district and the board should have been watching the numbers and considering capping much earlier so that all the other feeder schools into Duchess wouldn't be forced out.
"To me that's just mismanagement and neglect and unfortunately my child and my friend's child are being quite severely affected by it."
Cable said the frustration with French immersion is misplaced.
"That is a completely sort of separate issue. That is enrolment coming from a private school to the public and basically Duchess Park can accommodate all of the public students who live in the neighbourhood," said Cable.
The district will hold consultations this fall to address some recommendations in its facility report around rural schools and consider redirecting Edgewood elementary students into Kelly Road's catchment. That report recommended French immersion be relocated to Prince George secondary school, a move Cable said was unlikely.
"Because of the French enrolment at Duchess, that school is very full and through the long range facilities plan, we're going to have to look at ways of controlling the population," he said.
