Calgary CBE School Zone Question

[I_H8_Crawford]

Question for CPers who may have experience with this:

Got my kid registered for her kindergarten this year at the school in our neighborhood. We are currently renting but looking to buy, not guaranteed we will buy in this neighborhood - if we move mid-year, is that an instant kick from her school too?

Or once she's in, can we keep her there? (We like the school).

EDIT: Just as a note - we are trying to stay in the neighborhood, but the old stuff is really really bad, and the new stuff is either out of whack price wise, or doesnt fit our needs.

[sleepingmoose]

Is the school full? Is there a lottery for Kindergarten? Usually if the school has space, they won't care if you live outside their zone, as long as you're transporting her there yourself (not expecting a bus). If the school is full and people are on a list to get in, if they find out you're outside their zone, you will likely have a problem.

Our school is full, so there's people actually using fraudulent addresses in our community (even though they moved out of the community years ago) to keep their kid in our school.

[WinnipegFan]

Hey,

So I work in education and deal with registration at the JHS, and HS levels. Not sure about younger years, but if you move you will not be moved during the current school year. However, you will be instructed to move to your designated school in the new school year. At high school you can be moved to your designated school at the semester break. This is a rule that has started to be far more strictly enforced in recent years. If you are renting and you like the school then I would suggest you buy in the same area, otherwise you will likely be relocated for grade one to your designated school.

[lazypucker]

To get around the designated school zone, can you keep a mailing address in the area of the school you want to get into, while living somewhere else?

I have heard people asking friends to "lend" them their home addresses so they can put their kids into Churchill and Western while living elsewhere...

[Ducay]

As others have mentioned, there are a few games you can play to stay in the zone if you move, but CBE is continually getting tougher on them, and also consider you'll then also be always "thinking" about it (ie not letting the kids talk about it, careful about who knows where you actually live, which friends can come over, etc) so may not be worth it from that aspect alone.

[lazypucker]

Originally Posted by Ducay

As others have mentioned, there are a few games you can play to stay in the zone if you move, but CBE is continually getting tougher on them, and also consider you'll then also be always "thinking" about it (ie not letting the kids talk about it, careful about who knows where you actually live, which friends can come over, etc) so may not be worth it from that aspect alone.

So the CBE is now spying on what the kids are telling friends where they live these days?

[octothorp]

As sleepingmoose said, probably the biggest factor is fullness of the school. In our school, which is usually not at 100% from in-neighbourhood, I recall the priority order being:

1) in neighbourhood
2) already attending
3) siblings already attending
4) whoever applied first

But as long as there's space, they'll take anyone regardless of neighbourhood.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by WinnipegFan

Hey,

So I work in education and deal with registration at the JHS, and HS levels. Not sure about younger years, but if you move you will not be moved during the current school year. However, you will be instructed to move to your designated school in the new school year. At high school you can be moved to your designated school at the semester break. This is a rule that has started to be far more strictly enforced in recent years. If you are renting and you like the school then I would suggest you buy in the same area, otherwise you will likely be relocated for grade one to your designated school.

I can understand it for kindergarten or even elementary school, but are they still strict on boundaries when it comes to high school? I've heard of kids essentially visiting different high schools to see which one they like, which makes sense if they offer a specific program but certainly wasn't the case when I was in HS.

[KTrain]

I would suggest just signing them up in the school you plan on moving to. Don't cancel the enrolment yet but when when you move to the new place register at the school in district. It will be worse later on when they've established friends and then they have to move schools.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

So the CBE is now spying on what the kids are telling friends where they live these days?

No. It's just obvious as F when the kids/parents fill in the forms on autopilot and the address doesn't match the zone.

It's also obvious as F in the school database if multiple students are listed at the same address and are not family members.

People living in the Hamptons used to do this all the time with Edgemont addresses so that they could send their kids to Churchill. There was a while where the schools cracked down on it and kids would randomly start showing up at Aberhart again. Then the two schools didn't seem to care.

I don't know what stage and how militant the schools are at the moment, but you don't need a full on forensic team to figure this stuff out. It literally is a discrepancy that just pops up on a regular basis without the admin staff doing a crazy amount of sleuthing.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

So the CBE is now spying on what the kids are telling friends where they live these days?

No, but all it takes is one tattletale parent, teacher, or otherwise to flag it to the admins and then the jig is up. Hence the need to pay attention and worry about who knows what and keeping stories straight, etc.

Its not an insignificant consideration if you're trying to play districting games.

Originally Posted by KTrain

I would suggest just signing them up in the school you plan on moving to. Don't cancel the enrolment yet but when when you move to the new place register at the school in district. It will be worse later on when they've established friends and then they have to move schools.

Well you have to submit proof of address at the very first time you apply, so it would be hard to apply to the wrong school and not have it straight up denied until you move. Otherwise you'd have to go through the whole rigamarole of applying to out of zone school and end up the very lowest priority for the school. Hence people playing the games.

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Well you have to submit proof of address at the very first time you apply, so it would be hard to apply to the wrong school and not have it straight up denied until you move. Otherwise you'd have to go through the whole rigamarole of applying to out of zone school and end up the very lowest priority for the school. Hence people playing the games.

I was referring to his kid's acceptance into the current school. Don't cancel that one until you know where you're moving, even if you don't plan on sending them there.