CFJC Today file image

By Dylana Kneeshaw

catchment area changes

SD73 considering parent suggestions for new catchment boundaries; final changes expected in May 2025

Dec 13, 2024 | 4:24 PM

KAMLOOPS — With the new Sníne Elementary School under construction and pressure mounting at schools in the southwest sector of the city, the Kamloops Thompson School District (SD73) is looking at changing current catchment areas. Consultations are underway with families who may be impacted.

The district has been meeting with parents who live in the Aberdeen, Dufferin, McGowan, Sahali and Pineview Valley areas to explain how the proposed changes would affect them. Some students will be moving to the new elementary school and the catchment areas will be redrawn to alleviate overcrowding at existing schools. It comes as the district waits on capital funding to build new schools.

“It’s the pace of the growth that we’ve been managing for some time, and portables and catchment changes are our only solution until we get a new school,” explains SD73 Superintendent Rhonda Nixon. “I think we’re really pleased about Sníne, but what I wish for is a couple of announcements at once.”

Current plans the district has laid out aren’t set in stone. The new catchment layout won’t be finalized until May and the district says parents do have a say in how it will be formed.

1000 Ways to Heal

1000 Ways to Heal: Ribbon Skirts

19h ago

Question of the Week

Have you done more in-person holiday shopping as opposed to online purchases this year?

19h ago

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Are the B.C. Conservatives digging their own graves?

Dec 15, 2024

“What can be expected now is we take the ideas we’ve been given from the webinar, from these meetings, from the input online — which has been tremendous — and we actually try them out,” says Nixon. “There are five, I think, really viable ideas. And then we bring them back to the groups again. By the time we finish near May, we will have tried out our ideas, the public’s ideas, and by then, my experience with this is, we will have the right catchment change.”

The District Parent Advisory Council wasn’t available for an interview but provided the following statement to CFJC on the consultation process.

“Parents and families can be affected a great deal by catchment changes made by the school district, especially when those changes will impact childcare and transportation options for working parents. The southwest sector of Kamloops continues to grow at a rate that puts more pressure on our school system than we can meet. The addition of a new elementary school is welcome but won’t alleviate these issues. Parents continue to advocate alongside the School Board for more investment in Kamloops. We require at least three new schools in the next five years to meet the needs of our students and families. Catchment changes, while necessary as a last resort, are not a solution and should not be considered one.”

SD73 says more engagement sessions will take place in the coming months and the current proposal can be viewed on the district’s website.