Maryland Park School catchment area debate begins

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This article was published 23/05/2019 (2567 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The proposed catchment area for Brandon’s new K-8 school will help alleviate population pressure at three nearby schools.

Brandon School Division trustee Kevan Sumner presented the proposed area to a packed room of approximately 100 community members on Wednesday evening during an information session.

There are 373 students who currently attend King George School, Riverheights School and George Fitton School that will now fall within the catchment area of Maryland Park School.

“Riverheights we’ve been talking about for years being a school that’s really critical in terms of being so close to capacity,” Sumner said. “King George and George Fitton are also pretty full right now, so it will open up a lot of space in those schools.”

There are 161 students from Riverheights School who will now fall within the proposed catchment area for Maryland Park, 124 from George Fitton and 88 from King George.

Community members have until May 31 to submit feedback on the catchment recommendation, which they can do online through the Brandon School Division website.

“We’re certainly hoping people that didn’t make it here tonight for whatever reason will take advantage of the opportunity to provide input online.”

On June 10, the catchment area will be approved by the board.

When creating the proposed area they wanted to focus on creating a walkable school, he said, get the best value for their transportation and to build a sense of community identity around Maryland Park.

“We wanted this new school to be the heart of the community, really be a centre for residents that live within that walking distance.”

It will have a capacity to hold 450 students, and expand to hold 650. Although there are only 373 students currently attending other schools that will fall within the proposed catchment area, there are an additional 77 students in the area who are attending schools of choice right now, not in their proposed catchment areas. They anticipate that some of those students may choose to go to Maryland Park School now, Sumner said.

“We expect some families will prefer the neighbourhood school even if they’re going elsewhere.”

As it alleviates stress in those three schools in the division, there are other schools close to capacity and it may require adjustments to the existing catchments, he said.

They estimate that the new school will accommodate four years of enrolment growth in the division. It will temporarily relieve capacity issues, but they expect to be in a similar situation four years from now, he said.

Parents can submit a request to attend one of the other schools until Jan. 30. Otherwise, if they fall within the new school catchment area, they will automatically default into it.

The school is set to open for its first batch of students in September 2020. The 65,660-square-foot school will include a child care centre, a life skills suite, band room and an industrial arts and home economics lab.

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