School District 73 approves Juniper Ridge catchment changes, two-week spring break for 2022

KAMLOOPS — Monday night (July 5), the Kamloops-Thompson School District Board of Education moved to adjust catchment areas for future students attending the Juniper Ridge, Marion Schilling and Ralph Bell schools.

To ease some of the overcrowding in the district, Board Chair Rhonda Kershaw says Ralph Bell Elementary will be reopened in the September of 2022.

The catchment adjustments approved last night (July 5) will mean Ralph Bell will be filled with some students from areas around Juniper Ridge, Marion Schilling, Sun Rivers and Rose Hill.

“Students who are in Grade 5 now that will be in Grade 7 in their final year, they’ll be grandfathered in to their existing schools both at Ralph Bell and at Marion Schilling,” explains Kershaw. “It just allows for them not to have just that one year transition. It just doesn’t give them a chance to get situated in the school. They’ll remain in their home schools if they choose to, they don’t have to, as well as their siblings.”

Additionally, the district says it has negotiated with partner unions to have a two-week Spring Break implemented for 2022.

“There has been a call for it over the years, just due to contractual constraints we weren’t able to get there in the last few years. Really, it’s on par with the rest of the province — most of the other districts have a two-week Spring Break.”