During a special board meeting April 19, school board trustees voted unanimously in favour of allowing Grade 6 and 7 students to return to Davis Bay Elementary School.
School District No. 46 board chair Silas White said the special meeting was called so that teachers and principals could be made aware of the change before final staffing plans for the coming school year are submitted on May 1.
"We needed to make a very quick decision in order to give our staff at the school level and district level the most flexibility," White said.
A recent survey of parents in the Davis Bay elementary catchment area showed that most were in favour of returning the higher elementary grades to the local school. Teachers and staff at the school also favoured the change.
"Basically there were very few concerns. The concerns were more that if we make a change that we make that change be one that's not temporary, that we make a change that's for the long term," trustee Betty Baxter said. "This is something that's been thought about by the board for several months, and most recently as we did that outreach, it's been supported by parents, supported by teachers and supported educationally. So that's why we made the recommendation."
The motion, which reads "That the Board of Education of School District No. 46 return Grade 6/7s to Davis Bay Elementary School, allowing staff to implement the reconfiguration in the best possible way," was given unanimous approval by trustees.
The Grade 6/7s were pulled from Davis Bay Elementary in 2009 when the board of the day held the philosophy that older students benefited from being in a larger school with more diversity. That idea, coupled with financial pressures on the District, resulted in the move.
"I think the board made the best decision they could with the information they had at the time," White said. "A lot of information has been unearthed in this process that we didn't have available to us a few years ago."
He explained that earlier this year, through the discussion around changing grade configurations at West Sechelt Elementary School, the board learned that research now shows fewer transitions for students is better.
Based partly on that rationale the board decided to leave the grade configurations alone at West Sechelt and add portables to deal with the influx of students bound for the school.
White said that decision influenced the choice for Davis Bay.
"That old rationale about having a larger pool of kids and it would be beneficial for those intermediate kids, that rationale kind of died because we made a decision to say that wouldn't be beneficial for West Sechelt. So we couldn't really justify the same for Davis Bay," White said.
Exactly how the higher grades will be reintroduced to Davis Bay has not yet been decided. Superintendent of schools Patrick Bocking noting more conversations with teachers and staff will help solidify plans.
"It's certainly something that we recognize everybody wants to know and we'll certainly get a decision out as fast as we can, but make sure that we make a good decision based on some conversations," Bocking said.
Davis Bay Elementary School Parents Advisory Council chair Patty Shields was at the April 19 meeting, and she thanked the board for their decision.
"This has been a major priority and a major concern for the community and our school and we felt with this school board we really felt heard and listened to," Shields said. "Thank you so much for your work and your consideration - gratefully appreciated."
Former Davis Bay student, 11-year-old Marley Mural, was also at the meeting and happy about the board's decision. He had to leave Davis Bay Elementary to go to Roberts Creek Elementary this year for Grade 6.
He has two brothers in Grades 4 and 1 enrolled at the Davis Bay school, with his little sister set to start next year.
"I would like to stay at Davis Bay if I could and I think my brothers would and most of the kids there because we all live on one street, it seems," Marley said. "I know that Sally Thicke [the principal] wants us to come back, and most of the teachers do too."
