As part of the Secondary Program Review, modifications and updates to current policies and procedures are required to ensure they align with the goals of accessibility of the review.
A review of the Optional Attendance Policy (P013) and its procedures (PR545 and PR612) started in September 2019. This policy allows students to apply to schools other than their designated school by home address. This is possible because there is excess capacity at some schools across the system. However, optional attendance has prevented equity of access and created an imbalance of enrolment in our secondary schools (under and over-utilized schools). It has also created an environment where schools are forced to compete with each other to attract more students in hopes of increasing their enrolment.
A public consultation process began in November 2019 and ended February 2020. The consultation process included four public meetings, an online survey on a draft policy and two virtual meetings.
In the spring, there will be a presentation of the findings and the policy will be presented to the Governance and Policy Committee.
Read the questions and answers about the Optional Attendance Policy.