Home and School Federation Welcomes Parent Input On School Rezoning

The PEI Home and School Federation welcomes the Eastern School District trustees’ decision on January 27 to provide greater opportunity for parent input on school rezoning. "I am pleased that the trustees have accepted our recommendations and recognize the importance of slowing down the process to hear from parents," said Federation President Bill Whelan.

The trustees also voted to construct new classrooms at three Charlottetown schools identified as needing extra space to accommodate incoming kindergarten students. If this new construction is approved by government, the Federation questions the timing for rezoning a subset of schools for September 2010, as recommended by the trustees. "The only effective way to look at rezoning is to consider the entire school board. A piece-wise approach will fail to achieve education and transportation goals," said Whelan.

Federation President Bill Whelan requested a meeting with Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Doug Currie to discuss school rezoning. "Minister Currie and I had a productive meeting on January 29. He obviously values input from Home and School, and he understands our position on rezoning," said Whelan.

The Federation plans to meet with the Eastern School District trustees to discuss a new process and timeline for comprehensive board-wide rezoning that will involve meaningful input from parents, teachers, principals and trustees.