A proposed plan to ease enrollment pressures in North Perth will gradually move Grade 7 and 8 students in Listowel to the town’s high school if area trustees approve a staff recommendation at next month’s public school board meeting.
A proposed plan to ease enrollment pressures in North Perth will gradually move Grade 7 and 8 students in Listowel to the town’s high school if area trustees approve a staff recommendation at next month’s public school board meeting.
Nearing the end of a months-long boundary review in the growing communities north of Stratford, Avon Maitland District school board staff presented the recommendation to trustees at a meeting Tuesday.
If approved, students who would traditionally take Grades 7 and 8 at North Perth Westfield will instead complete those classes at Listowel District secondary school beginning in September 2023. The proposal also includes future boundary adjustments between North Perth Westfield and two other nearby elementary schools – Listowel Eastdale and Elma Township.
Guiding the recommendation is a report from Watson and Associates, the consulting firm that’s been working with school board staff and the volunteer North Perth boundary review committee since November. Trustees discussed the report on Tuesday but voted against making a decision right away, deferring the matter to the board’s next regular meeting May 24.
“It was great to receive this extensive report,” North Perth trustee Nancy Rothwell, the board’s vice chair, said via email. “The motion to defer the decision will give the North Perth boundary review committee and the community an opportunity to review … the final report for consideration, as well as have some time to ask further questions.”
The Avon Maitland board established the North Perth boundary review committee shortly after launching the review process at the end of October. Included in the review were the three Listowel public schools, along with Elma Township public school, Mornington Central public school, Milverton public school and North Woods elementary school.
The committee’s progress, as well as more information about how to submit questions and comments, can be found on the school board’s website.
Multiple North Perth public schools are struggling to accommodate students as the region’s population continues to grow. Listowel Eastdale, Mornington Central and North Perth Westfield are all over capacity. At the most crowded of the three, Listowel Eastdale, where 351 students are learning in a space meant for 297, some classes are taking place in the school’s library or computer lab, a recent board report indicated.
Overcrowding at Listowel Eastdale was partially addressed by the province in January when the government announced a $4.3-million addition at the school expected to create 98 new student spaces and 49 new childcare spaces. Another $1.1 million earmarked for the region will be used to expand Milverton public school in Perth East to create 39 new childcare spaces, the government said.
Those announcements have been folded into the boundary review process, but more needs to be done to address enrollment pressures the board is facing.
In a report to trustees Tuesday, board superintendent Cheri Carter and director of education Lisa Walsh said the recommendation to move Grade 7 and 8 students to Listowel District secondary school has advantages over other options considered during the review. Some of the most critical benefits include equalizing enrollments between schools, maximizing the number of students able to walk to school, and keeping students from Listowel in that community.
Carter acknowledged Wednesday “there’s actually no perfect solution” to address North Perth’s enrollment issues, but she said staff’s recommendation “is the one option that does balance that enrolment capacity issue for the longest time for the most number of schools.”
Surveys conducted during the review showed many area parents do have concerns about moving Grade 7 and 8 students into the high school. According to Carter’s report, a majority of students polled about the move responded favourably, however.
If the recommendation is approved, the board will implement a transition plan before the change takes affect at the beginning of the 2023 school year, Carter said. That plan includes minor capital investments at the high school.
“Any kind of change in school structure for a community is really a challenge,” she said. “I think the biggest thing here is how we plan for it. I’m sure the trustees … want to make sure we demonstrate that we’ve addressed some of those concerns before we’re comfortable deciding either way.”
Board chair Al Sygrove, a trustee in southwest Huron County, said he wants to give Tuesday’s report more thought before making a decision, but he is a supporter of the Grade 7-12 model in general.
“It’s worked well in our other schools,” he said. “Of course, that’s always something that requires a lot of thought as far as parents are concerned. We’ll listen carefully to the community and go from there.”