The Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school district is reviewing the catchment boundaries for its elementary schools in the eastern part of Maple Ridge, as it prepares for a new school.
The South Albion elementary school is scheduled to open in September 2019, and will be located on 104th Avenue, near 240th Street. Site preparation work is under way.
A catchment for the school will be established, and the catchment areas of neighbouring elementary schools may be redrawn.
The school district is in the midst of a review of the east zone elementary catchments, and there will be a public open house next Tuesday, and a survey will go out the following day.
These school boundaries are important because the families living within a school’s catchment generally have the first choice of attending there.
The school catchments under review are Albion, Alexander Robinson, Blue Mountain, Kanaka Creek, Webster’s Corners and Whonnock.
The open house will run from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on April 24 at the Samuel Robertson Technical gymnasium (10455 – 245th St.).
School district spokesperson Irena Pochop explained the public will be presented with three different options for new boundaries, and parents can express their preferences and concerns.
She said the online survey will be available on the board’s website on April 25 to give community members who couldn’t attend the open house an opportunity to participate in the public engagement process.
The new South Albion school has not yet been named, but public consultation indicated a community preference for a First Nations name, and the district is working with local native groups to come up with a suitable moniker, said Pochop.