Rutherford Elementary will begin welcoming students in September 2025, with re-drawn catchment areas and other items still to be completed. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

back open, soon

Rutherford Elementary confirmed for September 2025 re-opening

Oct 12, 2023 | 3:56 PM

NANAIMO — There remains an extensive ‘to-do’ list, but the clock is now officially ticking on re-opening a north end school to combat school capacity.

School District 68’s business committee endorsed the re-opening of Rutherford Elementary School for the 2025/26 school year, a move which will force the re-drawing of catchment zones in the region to afford the school a population of students.

Mark Walsh, SD68 secretary-treasurer, told trustees on Wednesday, Oct. 11, the move makes a lot of financial and operational sense, but it’s imperative they do it right.

“Our own [action plan], which we can override, does say that we need to have our boundaries in place by January which seems fair if that’s registration time for communities, so to do that by [this] January, unlikely to do it right and do it with consultation.”

Walsh expects to have a concrete plan back to the Board by January 2025 ahead of “fairly significant” public consultation and the forecasted re-opening two school years out.

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A return of Rutherford Elementary has long been wanted by the surrounding community since the school shut in June 2018.

Overcrowding at several schools and an increasing number of portables made the prospect of re-opening the building more and more viable.

A transition working group comprised of school and district staff, PAC members and others from surrounding schools will now steer the direction, provide draft catchment areas and provide input on decisions to be made.

“Obviously creating boundaries that both impact as few people as we can, but all those other questions of is it K-3, is it K-5, is it K-7? Do you want to leave your school in grade 6 to go to that new school?”

Walsh added Rutherford will not re-open full and that part of the planning will be to ensure it’s working properly now and in the future.

He added some programming may be extended out to the new school in a bid to attract more students.

“If all of a sudden we can’t create a catchment that we truly think is going to support the school, maybe there’s a programming option where we can support it. It’s unlikely that we’re going to be taking every K-7 in these catchments and moving them into the new school.”

Re-opening Rutherford Elementary School was officially considered in summer 2022, and further signaled to open in the fall of 2025 earlier this year.

Walsh said the key is for it to be sustainable with a stable student population, with early indications all looking good.

He noted enrollment targets to aid the long-term viability of Rutherford School correspond with student head counts at Frank Ney, McGirrr, Randerson and Departure Bay schools.

Re-opening Rutherford school will allow 10 portables currently in use in the District to be either re-deployed or removed completely.

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