Closed since 2018, Rutherford elementary has welcomed displaced Pleasant Valley students this past school year while their schools underwent upgrades. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

STUDENT SHUFFLE

SD68 poised to re-open Rutherford elementary & adjust catchment to address enrolment crunch

Jun 9, 2022 | 9:35 AM

NANAIMO — Continued growth in the city’s north end will likely force the re-opening of a school closed just a few years ago.

School District 68’s business committee voted unanimously for a proposal to re-open Rutherford elementary in a bid to deal with increasing students at north Nanaimo schools.

Mark Walsh, Nanaimo-Ladysmith Public Schools secretary-treasurer, told trustees during a Wednesday, June 8 meeting rounds of public consultation earlier this year made the next steps very clear.

“The feedback we heard, perhaps unsurprisingly because I know the Rutherford folks are quite a passionate group, were really pushing for the re-opening of the school.”

Despite the push from the community, the district is in no rush to re-open the facility, which closed in June, 2018.

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They’re eyeing September 2024 or 2025 for a return, which requires confirmation from the school board.

The exact timeline will be determined by enrolment figures in the north Nanaimo region come October 2022. The delay is also a budget consideration, Walsh told the Business Committee meeting.

He said between $450,000 and $650,000 in additional operating funds would be needed to re-open Rutherford school in 2023 and projected enrolment would not cover the difference, meaning a reduction in programming or funding for other schools would be needed.

Ultimately, district staff want the school to survive long term and serve a robust student population.

“Is it kindergarten-grade one? Kindergarten-grade one-grade two? Is it K-7 from the get-go? If it is, do we force kids to leave the school they’re currently at? Do we do it by voluntary basis, how does that work?”

To achieve the sustainable student volume the district wants, Walsh conceded they will need to redraw boundaries from neighbouring elementary schools.

He said the area immediately around Rutherford elementary is not growing as fast as some others, so the school would be able to ease the load on over-capacity schools like McGirr and Randerson Ridge elementaries.

“We can actually see situations where some families may have longer walks to school because we need to ensure that we’re creating robust catchments to maintain [Rutherford] school’s population.”

Despite being closed for upwards of seven years by the time it re-opens, Rutherford elementary is in good condition according to Walsh.

He said roughly $1 million in upgrades were devoted to the school in order to accommodate students from Pleasant Valley elementary while their facility was received was extensively upgraded during this school year.

“It’s a different school than when it closed from a condition perspective, so in fact it’s going to be in better condition than a number of our schools that we currently operate.”

Like many schools in the district, seismic upgrades are needed at Rutherford elementary, however Walsh said it would be next to impossible to achieve those changes, funded largely by senior government, within the next five years.

Re-drawing the boundaries
The committee also unanimously approved a longer-term plans to ease pressure on the over-capacity Departure Bay elementary.

In addition to applying to the province for an expansion and upgrade of the school building, the district will also explore how students are allocated to schools.

“We’ve got 400 kids [at Departure Bay] right now with five portables, so why don’t we try and expand to get that population,” Walsh said. “We make the school the right size and that’s where we try to stick it at for a number of years.”

Expansion plans would be limited to removing the portables on site in favour of having those kids inside the school proper.

Enrolment data from the District shows Cilaire elementary is set to see a population drop over the next 10 years which presented an opportunity to ease pressure on a school like Departure Bay.

“Rock City might take a little bit of Departure Bay, Cilaire could take a little bit of Departure Bay to shrink what that growth of the school is going to be in order to limit its population,” Walsh said.

Re-drawing of the catchment lines would come into effect for September 2023.

The changes however would not solve student squeezes overnight and could take up to eight years to fully be realized, according to Walsh.

Any student currently enrolled at Departure Bay, along with their younger siblings, would be guaranteed their space at the school if they wanted to stay.

The proposed changes to catchment zones in and around Departure Bay are contingent on community consultation which will occur in the coming months.

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