EIPS contracted Western Management Consultants (WMC) to facilitate the engagement process. Working collaboratively with EIPS, WMC drafted various advertising materials and information letters, hosted four drop-in public consultations, conducted two surveys and collected additional feedback from the school community. The focus: The junior high attendance area in Sherwood Park.
LATEST UPDATE
Project 1’s Attendance Area Cleanup started in June 2022 and finished in Spring 2024. EIPS engaged Sherwood Park communities about changing the junior high attendance areas for two identified areas:
- Brentwood Elementary Junior High Designation – EIPS hosted two drop-in public consultations, conducted two surveys and collected additional feedback to gather input from Brentwood Elementary families about possibly adjusting the junior high attendance for regular program Grade 6 students—having all of them attend F.R. Haythorne Junior High for grades 7 to 9, rather than splitting students between two junior highs.
- Northeast Sherwood Park Junior High Designation – EIPS hosted two drop-in public consultations, conducted two surveys and collected additional feedback to gather input from school families about moving the feeder school for students living within Lakeland Village, Summerwood and Summerwood North to Clover Bar Junior High for grades 7 to 9.
After a series of engagement efforts, the Division paused a decision to consider feedback from other public consultations taking place simultaneously—all interconnected. Once complete, EIPS then analyzed the feedback from the Attendance Area Cleanup consultations and considered recent attendance area changes resulting from the other public engagement efforts. After a thorough review, EIPS determined the best solution for students is to keep the junior high attendance boundaries in Sherwood Park unchanged. The reason is four-fold:
- Feedback from the attendance area cleanup engagement didn’t strongly support either boundary change.
- The province has since approved construction for the new Sherwood Park replacement school, grades K-9.
- The Board approved an attendance boundary change for the Cambrian Crossing area structure plan, which impacts the junior high Attendance Area Cleanup engagement by designating students living in that neighbourhood to either Clover Bar Junior High or F.R. Haythorne Junior High.
- In January, the Board approved a solution to best address the French Immersion program and balance senior high enrolment, which impacts student capacity at Sherwood Heights Junior High and Ardrossan Junior Senior High.
Keeping the attendance areas unchanged honours the feedback and ensures EIPS junior high schools have sufficient student capacity long term. As such, for the upcoming 2024-25 school year, the junior high attendance area for students living within Brentwood Elementary’s attendance area and the areas of Lakeland Village, Summerwood and Summerwood North will stay status quo.