Proposed Rural Elementary Grade Reconfiguration

UPDATE: See information item following February 23 Board of Education meeting.

(Posted Feb.10.2016)

 In addition to the K-5 and current K-7 configurations to be  considered by the Board of Education, the following options will  also be considered:

  • K to 6
  • K to 8

 The implementation timeline will also be considered.

 

At at its November 24, 2015 public meeting, the Board of Education approved a consultation process to consider reconfiguring all remaining K-7 schools in the district to K-5.  These include:

  • Barrowtown
  • Upper Sumas
  • Bradner
  • Mt.Lehman
  • Aberdeen
  • Ross

          Elementary Schools. 

If approved, this would take effect in the 2016-17 school year. Initial information regarding this proposal and the consultation process was emailed directly to parents at the six schools on November 26 and December 4. 

BACKGROUND:

The district is currently completing revisions to its Long Term Facility Plan which includes a comprehensive review of school catchment and demographic trends. Throughout the review, the inconsistency of elementary school grade configurations (i.e. most elementary schools are grades K-5; some are grades K-7, middle schools are grades 6-8) has been identified as contributing to ongoing capacity and utilization challenges at some elementary and middle schools. 

In addition, the district remains concerned that not all students are benefiting from a full middle school educational experience. Currently, students enrolled in a K-7 school often attend three different schools in a three year period: grade 7 at an elementary school, grade 8 at a middle school, then grade 9 at a secondary. These transitions can be difficult both academically and socially. A stable and consistent learning experience better prepares students to fully participate in the curriculum and life of the schools they attend.

SCHEDULE:

An information distribution and consultation meeting schedule has been established as follows:

       The next steps of the process include:

  • January 14: Letter with link for Briefing documents sent to parents 
  • January 19: Consultation meeting for Upper Sumas and Barrowtown Elementary Schools (at Upper Sumas) 
  • January 21: Consultation meeting for Bradner and Mt. Lehman Elementary Schools (at Mt.Lehman)
  • January 26: Consultation meeting for Aberdeen and Ross Elementary Schools (at Aberdeen)
  • February 1-19: Individual school follow up meetings 
  • February 23: Board deliberation

Here is an outline of what the public consultation process entails.

In advance of the consultation meetings, the district has posted a briefing document outlining various details of the issues to ensure parents/guardians have time to review it and provide thoughtful feedback. There are also a number of background documents/data. See the list below (click on coloured links). 

  1. MAIN INFORMATION PACKAGE/SUMMARY;(pdf. Posted Jan.14)
  2. BACKGROUND data (all pdfs)
    Note: the school district develops enrolment projections working with local data and Baragar​, a BC company specializing in demographic analysis and projections, for school enrolment management, catchment data and related information. 
  3. Presentation from three January Consultation meetings (combined) (pdf)

There is a dedicated email address to submit feedback for the Board: feedback@sd34.bc.ca. To ensure your comments are received, please direct all email correspondence on this issue to this e-address. Further, if you wish to send a written letter to the Board, please address it to: 
    Abbotsford Board of Education,
    2790 Tims St.
    Abbotsford BC   V2T 4M7
Attn: Secretary-Treasurer’s Office

Finally, in accordance with Board Policy 7 (Section 8: Delegations to Board Meetings), parents wishing to register as a delegation for the February 23 Regular Public Meeting of the Board of Education, when the Board will formally deliberate on this matter, had until February 16, 2016 to register.