The Cariboo Christian School in 100 Mile House will close on Feb. 1, 2012, leaving some families uncertain where their children will finish the current school year.
A group of concerned parents and school staff are attempting to open a new Christian school, but the changes and tight timeline has almost two dozen existing students facing a need for alternative options.
Cariboo Christian School principal Pattie Baker says if a new Christian school doesn’t open, difficulties for some students may arise from its current, non-semester curriculum.
Any students currently in Grades 8-12 at the school who apply to transfer to other schools mid-year would also be in the middle of their courses, she explains.
As public secondary schools in the district have courses confined within semesters, finding appropriate solutions for those with incomplete courses would be “a challenge,” Baker says, but “not impossible.”
School District 27 superintendent Diane Wright says the district will work with every family, as it always does, to find a classroom for their child.
While parents look to register their children in their neighbourhood or complete a school-of-choice application, she suggests they explore all the available registration options.
“Sometimes that’s in a [particular] school they want, sometimes it’s in the neighbourhood school, and sometimes parents choose to use our Distributed Learning Program [DLP].”
Wright adds the district’s DLP is excellent, and may be especially beneficial to those who don’t want their child to enter a new school mid-year, or for students who have issues with mid-course interruptions.
“We have had families move in part way through a school year, and rather than having their child try and fit into a new school, they use the Distributed Learning Program as a sort of a stepping stone.”
Every child who has ever moved into SD27 has been able to get an education, Wright notes.
