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Enderby school debate continues

A public meeting about Enderby schools will be held Monday at 7 p.m. at M.V. Beattie Elementary
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There’s another chance for Enderby residents to discuss the future of their schools.

A second consultation session on possibly restructuring schools in the Enderby area will be held by the North Okanagan-Shuswap School District Monday at 7 p.m. at M.V. Beattie Elementary.

At a recent meeting, there was considerable discussion, with some parents opposed to possibly shifting Grade 6 and 7 students from M.V. Beattie Elementary to A.L. Fortune Secondary or just Grade 7 students to ALF.

The other options include installing two portable classrooms at Beattie, declaring Beattie full and returning all out of catchment students to their home schools, and redrawing the catchment areas to increase enrolment at Grindrod and Ranchero elementary schools.

According to the district, M.V. Beattie will be beyond capacity in 2017/18 as a kindergarten to Grade 7 school (343 students). Under the current mandate, it is estimated to require 15 classrooms but it only has 13 classes.

The primary reasons for the situation are growth in Enderby and new language in the teachers’ contract on class sizes.

To address capacity at M.V. Beattie, some parents have suggested expanding the elementary school, relocating the StrongStart program to Grindrod to create space and encouraging more parents to send their kids to Grindrod.