Richmond has long been comitted to sending students to schools in their neighbourhood, but that’s changing.
Prospective kindergarten students in the catchment area of four elementary schools will not be allowed to attend them in September, according to a letter sent out by the Richmond School Board earlier this month.
The four schools affected are Ferris, Blair, Tomekichi Homma and Tomsett elementaries. Only students who already have siblings attending these schools can enroll in September 2018, said the letter.
“It’s very unfair for us. They’ve made our life change a lot, and they didn’t even apologize for it,” said Celine Chen, a mom living near Ferris elementary.
Sandra Nixon, vice chair of the school board, said the decision was made because those schools have been experiencing high enrolment and are near capacity — even while total overall enrolment in Richmond keeps declining.
“And a 2016 court decision, which resulted in a provincial agreement that made class sizes smaller for all grades, has put even more pressure on the capacity of these schools,” she added.
Three of four schools are located in high-density residential areas with one in Steveston and two in central Richmond — where the population has surged in recent years.
“To try to add additional classroom space at these schools would begin to compromise the quality of education and programming that students would receive,” said Nixon.
The decision cannot be appealed through district policy processes, nor will a waitlist be established for the placement of those schools, according to the letter.
Nixon said options such as using portables are not possible either at this time, so students in those catchment areas will have to choose an alternative neighbouring school with sufficient space.
Parents such as Gina Ho are upset with the decision. Ho lives across the street from Ferris and will now have to drive her daughter to another school in September.
“I feel really bad because my daughter goes to the playground every day, and since she was little, she has been told that she’d go to that school,” said Ho.
“Her cousin also goes to Ferris, and my mom could have sent both girls to that school and picked them up. Now I have to figure out the transportation.”
Ho said the school board always promotes walking to school and staying in the community, but now “all of a sudden, they aren’t following what they are standing by.”
Some parents, such as Chen, said it is very “irresponsible” and “unfair” for the school board to give such short notice when many other school options are closed at this time.
“Actually I don’t mind if we need to change schools, but I was so mad that they waited so long to tell us,” said Chen.
“They should have known that they had to minimize the number of students last year. Why didn’t they give us notice then? We didn’t even receive an alert while registering at Ferris in November.”
Chen noted many schools she likes already no longer accept registration, and two schools close to her home on the alternative list given by the school board also told her they are full — she had to choose one further away from home.
Apart from the inconvenience, she is worried that her daughter will not integrate among her neighbours and local community as well as if she was able to stay.
Virginia Chiu, a mom of an eight months old, told the Richmond News that, when she moved to her home down the street from Tomsett four years ago, its proximity to the school was one of the primary considerations.
“We are not enrolling any time soon, but if there is a chance we will get affected, obviously we are not very happy about it. We might have to consider moving,” said Chiu.
Nixon said they certainly understand parents’ disappointment, but the decisions made “were difficult and were not made lightly.”
She noted that the school board will need to continue to “manage enrolment throughout the district for a number of years” to tackle the challenges that are being seen.
The district is dealing with “enrolment and space pressures at some schools, declining overall enrolment, and the impact of anticipated seismic mitigation projects over the next number of years,” said Nixon.
“We are in the process of taking a comprehensive look at the issues we are facing, while examining future enrolment projections for every school.”
Affected parents wishing to explore a different school placement should contact the central registration office at 604-668-6000 (ext. 6058) no later than April 6.
