English board in process of rezoning area elementary schools

Parents encouraged to speak up now in online surveys

Commissioners with the Lester B. Pearson School Board will soon decide how to rezone the Vaudreuil-Soulanges region which in turn will dictate which schools local children can attend.

That subject, as well as others facing area English schools, has prompted them to seek feedback in online surveys, some of which will conclude on July 30.

The board is in the midst of rezoning its Vaudreuil-Soulanges elementary schools as part of a Major School Change (MSC) process that began March 31, 2009. Schools included in the rezoning are Forest Hill Sr. and Jr. and Evergreen in Saint-Lazare, Mount Pleasant in Hudson, Pierre Elliott Trudeau in Vaudreuil-Dorion, and Edgewater and St. Patrick in Pincourt.

Rezoning affects where a child is able to attend school and parents are encouraged to speak up before decisions, which are rarely reversed, are made.

In addition to rezoning, the board wants feedback on raising the level of French competency in its elementary and secondary schools, and rationalizing the elementary and secondary school network.

Magnet program Meanwhile, Westwood Jr. and Sr. high schools have been charged with creating a magnet program and parents are asked to complete an online questionnaire to help the school decide what kind of program to introduce. The program would be launched at the Secondary 1 level in September 2011. Magnet programs offer specialized courses or curriculum and can focus on things such as specialized sports, academic or language studies. They are used to attract and retain as many students as possible amongst those who would have otherwise chosen to attend other schools. Westwood Jr. currently offers a two-year enriched academic program. It is not clear if that program will remain in place once a new magnet program is created. Up next in the process will be meetings in September with Parent Committees and Governing Boards that request an audience with board officials. All briefs and documents must then be submitted to the board by October 15, while those schools that request public hearings will have them take place on Oct. 28. The board says it will render its Vaudreuil-Soulanges rezoning decisions on Nov. 29. To read the entire MSC document, go to the Lester B. Pearson School Board website at www.lbpsb.qc.ca. Most schools are conducting surveys from their own website pages. The link to the survey being done by Westwood Jr. and Sr. can be found by going to http://westwood.lbpsb.qc.ca. Forest Hill Jr. and Sr. schools are conducting their survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/mscbrief.

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