At the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees held February 9, 2016 the Board accepted Administration’s recommendation to reconfigure grade offerings provided by schools on the east end of the division.  Effective August 2016, the following grades will be offered at the identified schools. 

The reconfiguration became a possibility with the advent of the new high school being built in Onoway. As discussed at the public meeting in December, this grade reconfiguration will see expanded access to programming at the new school while providing a consistent transition point into Grade 8 at Onoway Junior/Senior High. This in turn will have a significant positive impact on student transitions from school to school.

We would like to thank the parents who responded to the survey conducted over the past month. The survey had a 17% return rate and the detailed results were shared with the Board of Trustees as part of their deliberations. Further to the parent responses, the Board has considered the impact of this transition on building utilization, finance, transportation services, staffing allocations, and student programming.

With this decision, planning can get underway for September 2016 and division and school administrators will be working together to ensure there is a smooth transition throughout the reconfiguration process. We are very excited about the possibilities that this reconfiguration will allow for and are confident that it will provide excellent learning environments and opportunities for all students.

Schools will communicate more information to parents throughout the Spring.