Rocky View Schools board of trustees voted to maintain the current grade configuration of Kathyrn School as Grade 1 to 8, March 11.

A motion to add Grade 9 to Kathyrn School was tabled on May 21, 2009 and a second motion to bring the issue to the public for consultation was brought forward on Oct. 1, 2009.

An online survey was offered for students, staff and parents of Kathyrn and Beiseker schools from Jan. 11 to March 1. Two-hundred-and-seventy-two people completed the survey and results indicated the majority do not support the proposed reconfiguration.

"To honour my electorate, I wanted to go to them and ask how they felt about the change," said Kathyrn and Beiseker area Trustee Jennifer Avery.

"Based on the conclusions, I don’t think this is the right time to move forward with this, but I think it is something we should revisit in the future."

Only 14 per cent of respondents supported the proposed grade re-configuration.

"If there is not a huge benefit, I think we need to listen to what our community is saying," said Trustee Bev LaPeare. "The community has spoken and I will be honouring what the community is asking for."

Parents listed a reduction of sports and option programming; an abrupt transition to high school and the loss of teachers, funding and instructional hours as some of the reasons they didn’t support the reconfiguration.

If the motion had been approved, Kathyrn School’s staff would have increased by one teacher and Beiseker would have lost one. Beiseker would also have lost $115,000 in funding to Kathyrn School.

Kathyrn School is already overcrowded, while Beiseker is underutilized, said Trustee Bruce Pettigrew.

"With the space limitations we have right now, we can’t be changing something that will make the situation worse," he said. "The choice of student programs would be impacted and if housing projects in those communities go forward as planned, we are going to be looking at major shifts in population down the road. I think this decision would be premature."