Bellevue Creek school to reopen for K-2 students

Bellevue Creek school in the Mission will reopen next fall as a kindergarten-Grade 2 school for English and French immersion students.

Students will then go to Ecole Dorothea Walker Elementary School for intermediate grades.

“That will take the pressure off Dorothea Walker but it will keep the dual-track system, which the board wanted to continue,” said board chair Moyra Baxter on Thursday, after the board voted in favour of the plan Wednesday night.

Changes were also made to catchment areas in Okanagan Mission.

Those changes take effect next school year. Bellevue Creek school is located on Raymer Road.

Meanwhile in West Kelowna, funding approval is key to moving ahead with plans to repurpose the George Pringle site for a new secondary school, which would become a dual-track English-French immersion school.

“We’ve only ever had one secondary French immersion school for the whole district, and that is KSS,” said Baxter.

If the board gets confirmation of funding before Feb. 28, they will move ahead with plans to build the new school.

George Pringle Elementary would be demolished and French immersion for early grades would be divided between Glenrosa and Hudson Road elementary schools.

Once built, the second dual-track high school would help ease overcrowding issues at Kelowna Secondary School, said the board chair.

“But Mount Boucherie is also suffering from incredible overcrowding, including the fact that in a couple of years there will be 21 portables on site,” said Baxter. “That’s a whole couple of regular schools,”

In a second set of resolutions, the board voted that if there is no word on funding by the end of February, they will delay plans.