WINNIPEG -- Parents living in south Winnipeg are expressing concerns about two new schools set to be built in the area.

A public consultation meeting was held Wednesday night at Acadia Junior High School. The Pembina Trails School Division announced changes to its catchment areas to accommodate the new schools.

“Pretty disappointed for my kids, and my neighbourhood,” said Jasmine Brar, who attended Wednesday’s meeting and lives in Prairie Point.

“Because of the catchment issues, my kids cannot attend South Point, I have to go past Pembina or past Waverley and that’s the reason I had to apply for out-of-catchment schools. So my kids go to different school in Pembina School Division.”

A new kindergarten to grade eight school and a high school will be built in the Bridgwater neighbourhood. The schools will be halfway between Kenaston Boulevard and Waverley Street, on the south side of Bison Drive.

The school division said the catchment area for the high school will cover all of Waverley West – but the elementary school will not.

“The parents and families who live in Bridgwater Forest, which is adjacent to Waverley Heights, and adjacent to this ‘Area B’, they were hoping they could send their kids, all of them, to ‘Area B’,” said Ted Fransen, superintendent of the Pembina Trails School Division.

“However, we have very strong messaging and signals from the province that we are to continue to use available seats.”

Emily Sprague has a young daughter who will be starting school in 2021. She lives in Prairie Point, Stage 1 – an area which is not included in the catchment area for the new school.

“My hope when first moving into the area was actually to attend South Point, since we can see South Point from our home, however that was not the case,” said Sprague.

“So this was what our second closest option was and it’s very disappointing to hear that that still won’t be the case.”

Several parents were visibly disappointed during Wednesday’s meeting and spent about an hour expressing their frustration with representatives from the school division.

More information on the school division’s plan can be found on their website.

Both schools are scheduled to open in September 2022.