District approves major change to Victoria school catchments

The Greater Victoria School District signed off on redrawing school catchment boundaries at a Tuesday night meeting.

The district gave final approval to transition schools like South Park Family School and Cloverdale Traditional School into catchment schools for the 2020-21 school year.

• See the final catchment changes on SD61's website

South Park and Cloverdale were previously "schools of choice," with allow families to send kids from outside of the school's neighbouring community. Catchment schools are mostly populated by students from surrounding neighbourhoods.

"The new catchment boundaries will help alleviate current capacity issues in the school district and address burgeoning enrolment," School District 61 said in a news release.

Students currently in schools that have seen catchments change won't be asked to leave. The changes only impact new enrollment and students who start middle or high school next year.

Some parents were vehemently opposed to the changes and others took issue with they called a rushed process.

In a statement, board chair Jordan Watters said it hasn't been an easy decision, but redrawing the catchments is the best long-term solution.

"We heard from thousands of parents throughout this process and it was clear that any changes would have a domino effect and would be extremely challenging for students and families," she said.

Priority for enrolment will go to students who live closest to the school, but the changes also include sibling enrolment priority for families affected by the new catchments.

"If your child is in Cloverdale or one of the other schools that was affected by this catchment change the siblings will have some priority," said board vice-chair Anne Whiteaker. "They will not have priority over a student in that catchment area but they will have priority over students outside of that catchment area."

The board said it would work with families and Parent Advisory Councils to ensure that siblings can attend schools together.

The change came as a result of the first catchment boundary review the district had conducted in 20 years.