The Avon Maitland District school board has launched another boundary review, focusing this time on possible enrollment pressures in the North Perth area.
The Avon Maitland District school board has launched another boundary review, focusing this time on possible enrollment pressures in the North Perth area.
Advertisement 2
Article content
Article content
Article content
This review will involve examining the schools in Listowel and the surrounding area to determine how the present boundaries might be adjusted to ease enrollment pressures, the board announced this week.
“It is important that we try to balance and equalize enrollment between schools, especially if there are some schools that have too many students relative to its size, while other schools have excess space,” superintendent Cheri Carter said in a press release.
“As the enrollment continues to grow at an accelerated pace in this area, we are once again returning to the community to seek feedback on how we might accommodate this growth.”
A report on the boundary review identified several schools that may be impacted, including:
Advertisement 3
Article content
- Elma Township public school;
- Howick Central public school;
- Listowel District secondary school;
- Listowel Eastdale public school;
- Mornington central school;
- Milton public school;
- North Perth Westfield elementary school; and
- North Woods elementary school.
A North Perth boundary review committee will be formed with representation from all school communities involved in the process, board officials said. The review process is scheduled to end in the spring of next year. The process will be led by an outside consulting firm and possible solutions will be vetted through the boundary review committee and the broader community. The board did not say who this outside consulting firm would be.
This will be the second review the school board has recently undertaken after boundary changes were implemented for some Stratford schools this fall.
Advertisement 4
Article content
The board also announced that Michael Bannerman was acclaimed as board chair for 2025 while Patricia Smith will serve as the vice-chair.
Elected in 2022, Bannerman is now in his second go-around as a trustee, having previously been in the role from 2010 to 2014. A Stratford resident, Bannerman has worked for more than 20 years as a psycho-social rehabilitation specialist following five years running various life skills and support programs with a local non-profit agency for economically challenged individuals and families.
Representing North Huron, Smith is the director of community engagement and co-lead of the family and community engagement advisory council of The Well Community Collective, the organization bringing Youth Wellness Hubs to local areas. She holds a master’s degree in archeology and is a doctoral candidate in anthropology.
Article content