Board approves capacity plan for school

Jan 14, 2021 | 12:50 PM Pete McIntyre

The Central Okanagan Board of Education has approved a plan to address immediate capacity issues at Ecole Kelowna Secondary School.

In light of the school currently being at full capacity and an additional 250-300 students expected over the next three years, the board approved the following actions at its Jan. 13 meeting:

Ecole Kelowna Secondary School will prioritizing enrollment for catchment area students as per Board Policy 405. Newly registered students and Grade 9 students transitioning into École Kelowna Secondary School that do not reside within the school’s catchment will only be registered at Ecole Kelowna Secondary School if there is space available and most likely will need to attend their catchment school.
International students to be restricted to 65 FTE students, with the cap to be reviewed on an annual basis.
A Grade 10-12 French Immersion program will be established at Okanagan Mission Secondary School starting in the 2022/23 school year. The first Grade 10 cohort will be the Grade 8 students that currently attend Ecole KLO Middle School and live in the English catchment for Okanagan Mission Secondary School.

The board said the decisions will create three to four years of capacity for secondary students at the school, but cautions the only viable long-term solution to the overcrowding is for the provincial government to approve a secondary school in the Glenmore area.

“This project has been requested for the past eight years by the Board of Education but has yet to receive approval from the province. If this project is not completed by the 2025-26 school year, all three secondary schools in the City of Kelowna are projected to be over capacity,” a District 23 news release stated.

“Central Okanagan Public Schools continues to be one of the fastest growing districts in British Columbia and capital funding from the government has not kept pace” said Board Chairperson Moyra Baxter. “The Board of Education continues to advocate for new secondary schools on the Westside and in Kelowna and implores the government to immediately approve these projects.”