Parents in the southwest community of Aspen Woods are angry with a public school board decision that will see their children, brothers and sisters, being separated and sent to different schools.
Deanna Bradley's son Quinn will have to attend Wildwood elementary when he starts kindergarten in September even though Quinn's older brother attends Olympic Heights School in Strathcona.
Deanna knew Olympic Heights was near full capacity for students, but she and other parents believed siblings of current students would be admitted to the school.
Bradley points out the family pays school taxes like every other family and she calls the Calgary Board of Education’s decision a "slap in the face."
“I went into immediate panic mode and talked with some of the other mothers to see what they had been told,” says Bradley. “I went a week without sleeping or eating a lot, it was very stressful.”
School officials are saying the Bradley’s situation is very unusual and the separation of siblings is something the board attempts to avoid.
Olympic Heights elementary is over capacity because 90 unexpected students enrolled in September 2012.
The CBE says the Aspen Woods students can attend the same school as their siblings if the family moves all of their children to Wildwood elementary.
Parents object to the move to Wildwood as the school is a further distance from their homes and they are hesitant to remove their older children from Olympic Heights where the children’s friends are.
The CBE says there are seven other Aspen Woods families in the same situation as the Bradleys. Next week, the CBE will hold a lottery which may allow a few of the Aspen Woods families to have all of their children attend Olympic Heights.
