As kids head back to school for the new year, some will be heading into a brand new school, as the Grande Prairie Public School Division changed boundary limits for a handful of facilities.
Division Board Chair Joan Nellis says they started the process of changing the boundaries back in November 2021, and it was a move while disappointing for some, was needed for several reasons.
“Charles Spencer had a two per cent vacancy rate, so that meant there was nowhere in the school where you could break out and meet with a small group of students, they just didn’t have anywhere that wasn’t occupied. We also had some pinch points in our K-6 and K-8 schools that we had to work out, it was necessary, it’s unfortunate, it’s never an easy decision, but it had to be done,”
Among the bigger changes was the addition of the Patterson and Swanavon communities now feeding into the new Grande Prairie Composite High School population, with Charles Spencer students now also coming from Countryside South, via Aspen Grove school.
Nellis says while she understands the frustration of some parents, in the end, the division needed to even out the high school population as base as best they could.
“You live in your school, it becomes your school, so when you have to change schools it’s unfortunate, and it can be super hard for some, but easy for others,” she adds.
The boundary change information was handed out to parents and guardians in February.