'Sad and angry': Parents frustrated as kindergarten lottery leaves closest school out of range

Eli Putermanand his husband Dave had to read the letter from the Vancouver School Board two or three times before accepting its contents and turning in for a restless night.

The letter informed them their four-year-old son, Zev,had not receiveda kindergarten spot inthe school in their catchment area, Crosstown Elementary, locateda 15-minute walkfrom their home.

"We've been yearning for this school ... Every time we drive by here, we've been calling it [Zev's] school," Puterman said.

"We spent the night pretty sad and angry that our lives were not what we expected it to be."

The young family's position is commonin Vancouver.

Every year, hundreds of parents in Vancouver face a lottery system for schools in their catchment areas where the number of childrenexceeds available space.

Rob Schindel, the associate superintendent of school services at VSB, says the board utilizes adrawto be fair to all families.

He says there were about 12 elementary schools out of 89 elementary schoolsin the district that had to go to the draw processthis year because of high demand from students in their catchmentareas.

"Students with sibling priority are placed first, then the remaining spaces are then filled with in-catchment students," Schindel said.

He says if students don't get into the school in their neighbourhood, the board will ensure theystill get a spot at a school in the district, ideally as close to their home as possible.

For former city planner Brent Toderian, the policy is"geographically ridiculous."

He said his familypurposely moved to their neighbourhood 10 years ago, with the hope that anyfuture kids would be able to attend the yet-to-be-built Crosstown Elementary schoolacross the street on Expo Boulevard.

But his sonalso lost out in the kindergarten lottery this week.

"We're feeling a sense of remarkable grief today, the grief that the 10 year strategy that led us to make all of our choices has failed because of a random lottery," said Toderian.

"It's the knocking out of the legs of their whole sense of community, the whole definition and strategy for community."

He says he's looking at private schools to stay as close as possible to his home. Lord Strathcona Elementary School on East Pender Street, another VSB school, located a15-minute walk away, "might be [a] possibility."

"I frequently told council that they would be amazed at how many trips in our city every day are parents trying to get their kids to school in cars, taking up transit capacity, etc. and not just because their school is far away ... but [because] they've had to go to a different school," he said.

Schindel says the district wants to acknowledge the parents' predicaments.

Hesays the board's spending plans put apriority onnew schools in rapidly densifying downtown neighbourhoods that are attracting more families. The board has received approval for a Coal Harbour school, but not yet for Olympic Village, where the nearest school Simon Fraser Elementary on West 15th Avenue received 104 kindergarten applications for 40 spots in the 2018 school year.

"[New schools]would help with addressing that concern and that frustration," he said.

Local parentadvocatesLisa McAllister and Laura Moore, both of whom live within Simon Fraser's catchment area, said their childrenwere both put on this year's wait-list for the crowded school this week. Neither knows where their kids could end up.

"We've asked the VSB where they're going to place us. They are unable to tell us at this point," said McAllister, who lives in Olympic Village.

When reached for comment, the Ministry of Educationsaid itspendsone in six of the ministry's school capital dollars in Vancouver, though its top priority remains seismic building upgrades, not constructing new schools.The government said it's currently reviewing funding requests from all 60 of the province's school districts.

"The district is responsible for reviewing enrolment, catchmentsand programming to determine how to best use available space to meet the needs of students," the ministry's statement said.

McCallister said she's tired of the province "pointing fingers" at the local school board when asked about this issue.

Moore agrees. According to her, it's time for the governmentto step up with increased funding and a willingnessto work with the VSB and identify creative ways to address overcrowded catchments.

As for Puterman and his husband, they have yet to tell their son he won't be attendingthe school they said he would.

"We'll work it out. We won't let him think anything's wrong with it ...It's a sad moment for our family."

Listen to Brent Toderian on CBC's The Early Edition: