The transition towards making Gronlid Central School from a K to Grade 12 to a K to Grade 8 school has begun.
The North East School Division鈥檚 board of education talked about the process at its Dec. 20 meeting, focusing on bus routes and attendance areas.
Don Rempel, the division鈥檚 director of education, said the reduction in grades will allow the division to reduce the staff at the school by the equivalent of two full-time teachers.
鈥淭he rest: the transportation and the support staff, stays the same,鈥� he said.
鈥淚f it was just about saving money, it would be easy,鈥� said Luke Perkins, the division鈥檚 chair, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 not.鈥�
The chair said it鈥檚 also about ensuring a viable school with good programming for students.
Gronlid Central will become a feeder school to the Melfort and Unit Comprehensive Collegiate. That will mean there will be an explicit expectation, backed by policy, that will require students to go to Gronlid until Grade 9.
There will also be changes to the bus routes to allow high school students to go to Melfort, meaning bus routes could start 30 to 40 minutes earlier than they used to.
Rempel said the division and the Gronlid school community council are talking with parents, and that there鈥檚 still some flexibility in the future. There might be room to accommodate students whose parents鈥� job focus on a location other than Melfort.
鈥淪ince the world鈥檚 changed, we鈥檙e going to have to work with our parents,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o if a parent works and most of their trading area鈥檚 in Nipawin, but they鈥檝e always been under the assumption that their kid could be in Gronlid, close to the family home, then I think we have to work with them.鈥�
There鈥檚 also a possibility Gronlid Central鈥檚 boundaries will be expanded to add students living near the edges in the cases where the distance to Gronlid is about the same as their currently assigned school.
