Pembina Hills Public Schools’ trustees approved nearly two dozen changes to the attendance areas for Busby School, Westlock Elementary School, Eleanor Hall School and Pembina North Community School effective this fall.
Trustee Sheri Watson, who chaired the April 27 meeting in Barrhead, said they’ve heard from all those who wished to voice their opinions through e-mails, phone calls and face-to-face meetings.
“It is now time to make a decision,” said Watson, who chaired the meeting because Swan Hills was unaffected by the changes. “It needs to be reiterated that the board will do their best to make the best decisions.”
Pembina Hills started the attendance area review in November and based on public input, came up with 17 changes to the attendance areas of eight its schools. Two public meetings were hosted on April 19 and 20 in Westlock and Barrhead, which were attended by 77 parents and community members, while an online survey was also conducted in April, which was completed by 101 residents.
Trustee Jennifer Tuininga said she had made the original motion back in May of 2014 to review attendance area boundaries and said this process has needed a lot of work and research on the part of administration.
However, she acknowledged that the closure of several schools over the past decade have been difficult events in the division’s history and one of the guiding principles of the review has been the viability of smaller schools.
Maps of all the new attendance areas and lists of affected land locations can be found at the Pembina Hills website.
Trustees approved extending Pembina North Community School’s attendance area to the south, capturing a portion of the EHS and WES attendance areas.
First, trustees passed a motion approving the addition of a sizeable area west of the Pembina River that was previously part of Westlock.
Trustee Jackie Comeau noted this area has been in need of clarification for some time; depending on the road situation, students on opposite sides of the roads have been able to go to either Westlock or Dapp.
Tuininga noted that this change will affect “quite a few” families, though some of them were eager to go to PNCS, including one family that was at her consultation table on April 19.
Secondly, trustees passed a motion to capture an area east of the Pembina River that belonged to Westlock and move it into PNCS.
However, this area was slightly smaller than what Pembina Hills had originally proposed, as it only extended south to Township 61 Range 26 instead of the Sunniebend Road running east.
Comeau, who proposed the amendment, said she had some second thoughts about the entire area they proposed taking from Westlock.
The top half of the affected area has students attending PNCS and at least one family moving in who wanted to go to Pembina North, she said.
The southern half of the affected area had parents who wished to continue to sending their kids to Westlock, and there were also some issues with dead-end roads, Comeau added.
“It’s not something that we maybe won’t look at in a few years … but at this time, I felt this was the better motion,” she said. “We don’t need to wait 20 years to revisit any of our boundaries.”
Trustees also approved allowing Grade 7-8 students living in the absorbed attendance areas who currently attend either R.F. Staples or St. Mary School to ride the transfer bus from PNCS to Westlock.
Finally, a motion moving an area on the eastern boundary of PNCS’ attendance area from EHS into PNCS passed to create some transportation efficiencies.
Trustees approved moving an area north of George Lake from Dunstable School to Busby School’s attendance area and extending Busby’s eastern boundary to Highway 2, which would capture a portion of Eleanor Hall’s attendance area.
The first motion involving the area north of George Lake passed 6-1, with trustee Kim Webster voting against. The purpose of the change was to create transportation efficiencies, as it would move the attendance area boundary off of a road.
This area has two students going to Dunstable School and R.F. Staples School. Webster said she was opposed to taking students from Dunstable, which is smaller than Busby.
“Every student counts, but then it’s a huge loss for another small school,” she noted.
Trustee Annette Bokenfohr said the change made sense given there is a student going to R.F. Staples along that road.
The second motion involving Eleanor Hall’s attendance area was passed unanimously. Bokenfohr said this area previously belonged to Vimy School and the board of the day made a decision to move it to Eleanor Hall despite its proximity to Busby.
There was only one student currently going to Grade 5 at EHS. There was some discussion about whether they should allow that student to continue going to Eleanor Hall via transfer bus for free.
However, Tuininga noted this is a different situation because EHS goes all the way up to Grade 9.
Trustees approved moving NE27 and SE34-58-1-W5, which are in Dunstable’s attendance area, into Westlock. Trustee Jan Hoffart noted there is only one student in this area that goes to Westlock anyway.
Secondly, trustees approved moving SW5-58-1-W5 from Busby to Westlock. There are no students affected by this change.
Thirdly, the trustees moved the Pickardville Coal Mine Trailer Park from Busby to Westlock. Notably, there were no students in this area when the board first proposed the change, but two had since moved in and were going to Westlock.
Finally, the board approved adding an area along the far western boundary of Westlock’s attendance area that currently belongs to Barrhead. There are also no students in this area.
