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Comox Valley Schools boundary consultation process delayed

School district has had strong response at meetings and online in response to boundary review
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The school district has had unprecedented response at meetings over its boundary review. Photo supplied

Comox Valley Schools will reschedule the next series of public sessions on the school boundary consultation process into the new year to allow senior staff time to review input received from the community to date.

The school district still intends to meet a deadline of early 2020 to develop the options presented to the public into recommendations for the Board of Education to make a final decision.

During the first round of consultation sessions that concluded Nov. 13, a total of 350 individuals attended school meetings and over 2,000 completed the online survey. The participation level was precedent-setting for the school district and a reflection of how engaged this community is with the delivery of public education for children.

Input received online and at the meetings has been thoughtful and well-articulated, says a release from School District 71, and has given senior staff a great deal of information to review and digest. Given the magnitude of the responses, and the importance of this decision, the district felt more time is required to adequately analyze the information and create viable options that will best serve the district.

The next series of discussions will involve a presentation of options that originated from the first round of consultation input and survey findings, as well as discussion responses in PlaceSpeak.

The next meetings will take place starting in mid-January:

Royston Elementary, Wednesday, Jan. 15;

Cumberland Community School, Thursday, Jan. 16;

Miracle Beach Elementary, Tuesday, Jan. 21; and

Huband Park Elementary, Thursday, Jan. 23.

All meetings will take place from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Participants can also contribute to the process by following the topic and engaging in the discussions on Place Speak. Visit https://www.placespeak.com/en/topic/6260-school-boundary-catchment-consultation/ to register and follow the discussion.