School review could secure SCI’s future
A process that could determine the fate of Stayner’s high school began this week.
An eight-member committee will look for solutions to “accommodation pressures” on three Stayner schools, specifically issues with the building at Byng Public School (above), while also addressing low enrollment at Stayner Collegiate Institute (SCI).
Byng, built in 1922, has failing mechanical, electrical and structural systems, according to the Simcoe County District School board staff. It has minimum life safety systems that do not meet the requirements of the current code, the school is not accessible and significant lighting replacements are needed.
The committee is made up of two parent guardians from each school included in the review and two students from the high school, appointed by parent and student councils.
It is a scaled down and streamlined committee compared to the 38-member committee that set out in 2009 to determine the fate of five area high schools, including SCI. This committee is following new policy set out by the Ministry of Education.
As a first step, the committee was given a binder of documents containing the information and statistics that would help inform a recommendation.
School board staff have put forward three options but the ARC is tasked with taking input from the community and putting forward a recommendation of its own, either in support of one of the staff options or something completely different. The trustees, the elected board representatives, will then make a final decision, which goes to the Ministry of Education for final approval.
The option preferred by staff – option C – is to close Byng, and have all students in Grades JK-6 attend Clearview Meadows Elementary School and make SCI into a school for Grades 7-12.
Option B is to close SCI and transfer high school students to Collingwood Collegiate Institute and Nottawasaga Pines Secondary School in Angus, close Byng and accommodate elementary school students at Clearview Meadows and the SCI building.
Both options would include a request for funds for renewal, program space and additions where necessary.
A third option is to maintain status quo and submit a business case to the ministry for a replacement school for Byng and space enhancements at SCI.
“In the end it would be a win-win for Stayner,” said Annie Chandler, trustee for Clearview Township, of the staff preferred option. “You are going to get a strong viable community educational hub, an elementary school and a secondary school right beside each other, it’s absolutely ideal. It’s a new model and people are a little weary of it but it’s a solution for rural high schools in Ontario and we need to keep them alive and this is a good option.”
“It would bring a big infusion of money so there would be like a $2 million renovation to SCI and a renovation to Clearview Meadows. Stayner would benefit,” said Chandler.
She said school board staff is talking to students about what kind of programming they would like to see at SCI that they currently aren’t getting.
“Those programs would receive money too and then Clearview Meadows would receive money to accommodate the additional kids because they are already at max, they already have portables.”
Chandler said trustees visited a Grade 7-12 school in a neighbouring county and the Grade 7 and 8 students liked being in the high school environment, taking advantage of music and technology programs and the gym.
There is also evidence that the school had better student retention levels and in a small community like Stayner, Chandler said, the Grade 7 and 8 students may already know the older students.
“In a small community, it’s not like they’re being thrown in with a bunch of strangers,” said Chandler. “The way it looks now, Stayner Collegiate is declining in enrollment and this is one way to get more students there, put big money into the school and secure its future.”
The first public meeting is at Byng Public School on Thursday, Feb. 11, a second meeting is at Clearview Meadows Elementary School on Thursday, Mar. 10, and a final public meeting will be at SCI on Wednesday, April 20.
A special board meeting to hear from delegations will be held on May 24 and school trustees will make a final decision on June 9 at the SCDSB education centre in Midhurst. All meetings begin at 7 p.m.
The expectation is that it would take about two years to make the changes. In the case of Option C, it could be that students currently in Grade 5 would go to Grade 7 at SCI.
Chandler said she will be suggesting an attendance area review in conjunction with the pupil accommodation review to reassess which students would attend the new SCI.
