The Foothills School Division is revamping its school boundaries and it is an exercise that will affect every school in Okotoks, with the exception of Foothills Composite High School.

A committee has been formed to look at changing school boundaries in preparation for the opening of Westmount School in Okotoks’ southwest corner. Westmount School will take in 700 students alleviating overcrowding at the existing schools and boundaries across Okotoks will likely change in 2012 when Westmount School is slated to open.

Dr. Morris Gibson School principal Tony Hampshire and school council chair Amber Hossack are on a committee that will decide how to alleviate growth at the school and redraw the school attendance boundaries in anticipation of the opening of Westmount School in 2012.

On Dec. 10 school and parent council representatives from Big Rock School, Dr. Morris Gibson School, Ecole Okotoks Junior High School, Heritage Heights School and Ecole Percy Pegler School met with staff from the division and Okotoks school trustee Laurie Copland to kick start the process.

Public meetings will also be held in the new year to get more feedback on the possible changes.

Foothills School Division (FSD) secretary-treasurer Drew Chipman said the division wants to have the new boundaries in place this spring so every parent will know what school their child will be attending two-and-a-half years before Westmount opens.

“It’s a very touchy issue and that is why we have a committee in place,” Chipman said.

The 13 members of the school boundary committee will make recommendations and give feedback to the school division and the board of trustees. Public meetings will also be held before a final plan is voted on by the board.

Chipman said boundaries from every school will likely have to be adjusted when the new school opens.

“It doesn’t make any sense to have schools at low utilization rates and others full,” Chipman said.

By then the modernization of Percy Pegler will be complete and the elementary students being temporarily housed at Okotoks Junior High School will be back in their own school. Chipman said there will be lots of attractive options for students when it comes to schooling.

In Okotoks the school with the highest utilization rate is Dr. Morris Gibson. The school is considered to be at 110 per cent capacity. The committee will be looking at ways to alleviate the crowded conditions there this fall. Solutions haven’t been discussed with the committee yet, but Chipman said one possible answer would be to divert students who move into the Dr. Morris Gibson’s attendance boundary to other schools.

The school’s principal, Tony Hampshire, said space is still tight at the school despite the school receiving two new modular classrooms in September.

“It’s pretty cozy,” Hampshire said.

This year Dr. Morris Gibson School grew by 50 students and Hampshire said that amount of growth is not sustainable. Classroom sizes and traffic would become unmanageable, he said.

“The physical facility we have is maxed out,” Hampshire said.

Amber Hossack is the parent council chair at Dr. Morris Gibson School. She said the students will be her main priority when she makes recommendations to the committee.

“The number one concern of parents would be that their child would be moved,” Hossack said.

The division is doing the right thing by consulting parents and school staff, she said.

“I think it’s being handled well,” Hossack said.

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