COLUMN: Carillon Flashback Feb. 8, 1995 – One Southeast school division eyed by Norrie Commission

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/02/2021 (1539 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba School Divisions Districts Boundaries Review Commission, chaired by former Winnipeg Mayor Bill Norrie, has recommended all southeastern Manitoba school divisions be amalgamated into a single division.

The changes, which still need to be accepted and passed into law by the provincial government, would see all of Hanover and Boundary School Divisions and parts of Seine River and Red River School Divisions, as well as Sprague School District and Falcon Beach School in Frontier School Division, all in one division.

Total enrolment in the proposed new division would be just over 9,200 students. Hanover would bring more than 5,300 students into the new division, while Seine River would bring around 1,600.

The recommendations announced at the Manitoba Legislature, in a press conference Feb. 5, would also see Agassiz and Lord Selkirk School Divisions, with a total enrolment of 7,200 students, combined into the Agassiz-Lord Selkirk School Division #14.

Lord Selkirk would bring 4,500 students and Agassiz 2,700 to the new division.

Under the proposal, communities in the new South East School Division #5 would include the towns of Emerson, Steinbach and Niverville; the villages of St Pierre-Jolys and Ste Anne; and the rural municipalities of De Salaberry, Franklin, Hanover, La Broquerie, Montcalm and Ste Anne, as well as the local government districts of Piney, Stuartburn and Reynolds.

At the same time, portions of the Seine River School Division would become part of two new school divisions in the City of Winnipeg.

Lorette, Ile des Chenes and St Adolphe would be part of the Winnipeg South-East School Division #3 and the St Norbert portion of Seine River would be included in the new Winnipeg South-West School Division.

Education Minister Clayton Manness, however, has declined to comment on the likelihood the government will implement the recommendations of the commission.

Speaking to media following the press conference, Manness commended the commission for its approach to the review. He would not, however, comment, in detail, on the more than 40 recommendations made by the commission.

“It is recognized that 57 existing school divisions and districts are too many. The government will have to reflect on the 21 divisions recommended by the commission and decide if that is the right number.”

The government will not support the closure of any small schools as a result of the recommendations, Manness said, noting that some of the recommendations of the commission are in line with stated government education policies.

“Recommendations governing the permeability of division boundaries, making them ‘speed bumps’ rather than ‘walls’, are in line with that policy.”

The education minister did not give any timeline for the implementation of any boundary changes, saying the government will have to reflect on the 40 recommendations presented by the Norrie Commission.

– with files from Tim Plett