The board of education for the South East Cornerstone Public School Division has completed a comprehensive review of school attendance boundaries and has made alterations to some boundary areas that will come into effect at the beginning of the 2014-15 school year.
The changes were deemed necessary in some areas to help maintain program viability of existing schools.
There were only two boundary tweaks within the city of Estevan regarding the four public elementary schools with two of the school catchment areas remaining unchanged. A slight adjustment was made to the attendance boundaries of Hillcrest School (increase) and Spruce Ridge (a slight change but no actual expansion).
In nearby area schools, there was a slight modification to the southeast sector in the Lampman School attendance area and at Weldon School in Bienfait. There was a slight expansion in the western sector and a small tweak to a section in the east.
The Macoun School attendance area remained as it was previously.
The boundary review process provided the opportunity to realize efficiencies in transporting students only within their designated attendance boundaries, provide clear and efficient routing, and other flexibilities for students and families in keeping with the Administrative Procedure Section 306, which pertains to attendance outside of the attendance area. With that AP 306 in mind, the board will continue to adhere to the following as it relates to student transportation:
Grandfathering: Students currently approved within an attendance area will have the option to attend school within the original boundary or will be grandfathered to the new boundary, until the last sibling has finished the K-12 education system within the SECPSD. Essentially, students and their siblings currently approved within an attendance area who are impacted by boundary changes will be grandfathered. That means transportation will still be provided.
Students who wish to attend school outside of the attendance area will be afforded the Courtesy Rider Program, based on criteria established in AP 306. With the Courtesy Rider Program, students will be expected to meet the bus at an existing pick up zone, these existing pick up zones are within the new attendance area of the school the student wishes to attend.
New Families: New families will still be required to adhere to the Administrative Procedure 306 and will be afforded the Courtesy Rider Program if they wish to attend school outside of their attendance area at an existing pick up zone, based on criteria established in the AP 306.
For more information, and to view the revised boundaries that will take effect in the 2014-15 school year, visit www.cornerstonesd.ca/Board
South East Cornerstone serves over 8,200 students in 39 facilities across southeast Saskatchewan.
