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(Adrian St.Onge / CHAT News)

Medicine Hat Public School Division will not restructure schools after parental survey

Feb 15, 2024 | 5:28 PM

Parents voted against a proposed change that would have reorganized the grading in schools across the public school division.

The proposal would have affected Webster Niblock, Vincent Massey, Dr. Roy Wilson Learning Centre and George Davison Schools.

The school board passed a motion in January to begin a consultation.

Part of the consultation was to send a survey to parents.

In two weeks, 169 families representing 44 per cent of the vote said they would not support the changes and would have sought other schools.

(Adrian St.Onge / CHAT News)

Superintendent Mark Davidson says that the message from parents was heard loud and clear early on, but that he was suprised that the support was as strong as it was.

“What we heard from parents is that they love their schools,” Davidson said.

“Students love their schools.”

“We knew that there was going to be a conversation about it. We were surprised at the extent of which the response from families were uniform,” he said.

“We probably expected a little bit more variance in there, but at the end of the day, that’s what consultations are for, right?”

“The board wants to hear what families thought and we heard them.”

Davidson said that the matter will not be addressed any further.

The next public school board meeting will be held on Feb. 27.