455555Foothills School Division is not ruling out making the new school in north Okotoks a Kindergarten to Grade 7 school when the facility opens in September of 2019. “There has been some discussion that maybe we should consider opening as a K to 7 and allow those students that would be at Okotoks Junior High School to finish their Grade 8 and 9 together,” said Drew Chipman, division assistant superintendent ofcorporate services, during an information meeting on Monday “Those things are all on the table.” Approximately 50 people attended the information meeting at Dr. Morris Gibson School, concerning potential boundary changes due to the opening of the 700-student capacity school located along 32 Street just southeast of Holy Trinity Academy. “There has been nothing written in stone, but it is going to be K to Grade 9 eventually,” Chipman said. If the school does open as a K to Grade 7, a grade would be added each year until Grade 9 is reached. Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools used that format when it opened St. Francis of Assisi Academy in Davisburg two years ago. It will reach that level when school starts in September. Cynthia Glaicar has been the principal at Okotoks’ Westmount School since it opened as a K to 9 school in 2012. She can see the merits of opening as K to Grade 7. When asked what advice she would give to the new school’s first principal, Rebecca Forchuk, she recommended advocating for a K to Grade 7 school. “I think that is really wise,” Glaicar said. “It is super tricky to move those Grade 8 and 9s.” Monday’s meeting was not to determine opening grade configurations or boundaries, but to let the public know how the process for determining boundaries will be done. Chipman told those in attendance there are no pre-determined decisions on the boundaries, but the reality is the majority of the students will come from existing schools when the facility opens. “I know that it causes some angst among families when we start talking about where their children can go to school,” Chipman said. “Unfortunately, when you talk about opening a new school, you have to make some changes.” The process has the division forming a committee by September which will collect data through email, surveys and other sources. The committee will then give some boundaries options to school trustees. Trustees will determine preferred choices, which will be presented back to the public for input. After studying that public input, trustees will make a decision. A final decision on the school boundaries will be made by April of 2019. “At the end of the day, we have to come up with some boundaries,” Chipman said. “Somebody might not be happy with the outcome but we want to make sure that you know there is a an opportunity to provide input, to provide feedback and once we have a draft decision made, you have another opportunity for that feedback. “We need to be very clear, we have to make boundaries at some point.” Christine Browne has a student at Percy Pegler School and she is hoping her child won’t be moved. However, she admits it could be realistic as she lives near Kayben Farms, north of Okotoks. She sympathizes with the division. “It’s a hard choice to make,” said Browne. “There’s always going to be somebody who doesn’t like the change and will make a fuss.... I am glad they are getting people involved, and I am looking forward to being part of the process.” Hayley McKibbin has a child at Percy Pegler School, who should be at Big Rock School. “We just moved to the Big Rock area but we were grandfathered in to stay at Pegler,” said McKibbin, who admitted the family might have to change schools due to a domino effect of changing boundaries. “I appreciate I have the chance to understand why the boundaries are chosen,” she said. To provide input on boundaries and for more information see fsd38.ab.ca
