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The Living Sky School Division Board of Education intends to meet with the Catholic advisory committee to the division regarding the relocation of Grade 7 students from the Battlefords elementary schools to the North Battleford Comprehensive High School in 2015.

St. Vital School in Battleford is a PreK-7 Catholic faith school within the public school division. It has a long-running agreement, pre-dating the formation of the Living Sky School Division, to be associated with the public school division that includes Battleford. Unlike Catholic schools in other divisions that allow non-Catholic students to attend, St. Vital students must be of or becoming of the Roman Catholic faith, and a signed statement to that effect is required by the division.

At their meeting of April 30, Living Sky board members said they would like to meet with the Catholic advisory committee regarding the plan to move Grade 7s to NBCHS and how that would impact St. Vital School.

Typically, said Director of Education Randy Fox, about 70 per cent of students graduating from St. Vital have been enrolling at NBCHS with most of the rest going to John Paul II Collegiate, the Light of Christ Catholic School Division's high school in North Battleford.

This year, the Grade 8 students from the local elementary schools were relocated to NBCHS, making them and St. Vital PreK-7 schools.

The issue concerning Living Sky board members is that the Catholic high school in North Battleford is a Grade 8 to Grade 12 school, leaving St. Vital Grade 7s who want to eventually attend JPII having to move first to NBCHS for one year before moving on to JPII.

That's three schools in three years, board member Glenn Wouters pointed out.

"I don't want to make life that difficult," he said.

Board chair Ken Arsenault said a meeting with the Catholic Advisory Committee members will allow the board to get their feelings on the situation. Having a separate policy for St. Vital, as in allowing those who want to take Grade 7 there to do so, is a discussion the board has not had to date.

Trustee Garth Link said that could lead to a perception by the public that the division is treating one school differently from the others. Students from other schools won't have a choice about going to NBCHS in Grade 7.

Trustee Richard Hiebert said he believes there is significant opposition in the community to sending Grade 7s to NBCHS anyway.

Meanwhile, NBCHS, under the leadership of principal Lyndon Heinemann, will be hosting a meeting with for parents and their children who are currently in Grade 5, expected to re-locate to the high school in 2015. The meeting will be Tuesday, May 13 at 7 p.m. at NBCHS.

Arsenault said Heinemann has taken the initiative to prepare for the transition, and has planned for an ongoing process that will allow time to deal with concerns the parents might have, including the fact that there will probably be a change of administration at the school during that time.

In another discussion, Chief Financial Office Lonny Darroch said the renovations needing to be done at NBCHS to accommodate Grades 7 and 8 should be going to tender May 30. With a closing date of June 14, the results of the tender should be coming to the June 18 board meeting, allowing construction to get underway this summer.