School board reviews SCI feeder school boundaries
An attendance area review is under way for all elementary schools that feed into Stayner Collegiate Institute.
The review comes out of a pupil accommodation review (ARC)of Stayner’s high school and two elementary schools – Byng Public School and Clearview Meadows Elementary School. Last year, it was approved that Stayner Collegiate Institute (SCI) be converted into a Grade 7-12 school and that Byng Public School would close. The solution addresses declining enrollment at the high school and costly upgrades required for Byng.
The Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB) is reviewing the attendance areas of SCI, Collingwood Collegiate Institute (CCI) and Nottawasaga Pines Secondary School (NPSS) in Angus, with the goal of aligning feeder school boundaries with SCI’s attendance area.
“A goal of the SCDSB is to align elementary attendance areas with secondary attendance areas wherever possible,” said school board trustee Annie Chandler, who represents Clearview Township. “What this means is that in some cases we have elementary schools where some elementary students (usually in small numbers) from the same school are designated to go to different secondary schools based on where they live. An example that came up at the ARC was students attending Grade 8 together at Clearview Meadows should be able to attend the same secondary school. This ensures that peer groups can move to the same school.”
The board said it expects minimal changes to the SCI attendance area and student population.
“We are not looking at transferring large numbers of students to SCI to boost enrollment at this time,” said Chandler. “We are focused on creating stability and continuity based on the current families of schools. It was discussed through the ARC process, and evidence suggests, that changing attendance areas to move areas such as Wasaga Beach to SCI would not have the desired result. In our experience this would result in significant numbers of students choosing to attend schools in other boards.”
School board staff are currently considering: Aligning the Clearview Meadows Elementary School boundary entirely with SCI’s attendance area; Aligning the Nottawasaga and Creemore Public School boundary entirely with SCI’s attendance area; Aligning the Nottawa Elementary School boundary entirely with CCI’s attendance area
They are proposing to give students from New Lowell that currently reside in the NPSS attendance area a choice between NPSS and SCI and to give students directly affected by changes the choice to stay at their current school at the time of implementation.
Chandler said the review could also help to create simplicity with bus routes.
The SCDSB staff recommendation will be presented to trustees at the March 1 business and facilities committee meeting.
“It is important to remember that no decision has been made and community input will be considered in the final recommendation,” said Chandler.
Any approved changes will take effect in September 2018.
A public meeting has been scheduled to present the SCDSB staff recommendation to the public at 7 p.m. on Jan. 31, at SCI.
The community will be allowed to make comments and ask questions.
