Thames Valley trustees re-enter tricky terrain: High school boundary rejigs

Do something, do nothing or start again from scratch.

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Those were the options facing a committee of Thames Valley District school board trustees at a Tuesday meeting – and they chose to do something: To recommend moving ahead with a potentially controversial boundary shakeup of where some future students, particularly in north and west London, would waits for high school.

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“I know there are a lot of people following what we’re doing here,” said trustee Sherri Moore. “In any of the options we have before us, there’s no option that’s going to make everybody happy.”

The move would allow the board to address enrollment imbalances, a requirement before Queen’s Park will fund any new high schools. Schools like Montcalm and Westminster secondary schools are under-populated while Banting, Lucas and Medway are overflowing.

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Trustee Leroy Osbourne cited concerns he’s heard from parents that the board is treating children’s school designations like “moving cattle to serve the purposes of the board.” But superintendent Geoff Vogt said “we only have one solution” – and that’s filling empty high school spaces so Queen’s Park will fund construction of new secondary schools.

By choosing to move forward on Tuesday, trustees will now once again vote on a revised boundary rejig that they’d opposed last June. If approved, it would go into effect in September 2025. Here are the changes recommended trustees last year, with some new tweaks:

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• Pupils at Princess Anne French immersion who now go on to Sir Wilfrid Laurier secondary school would go to Clarke Road secondary school
• Pupils residing west of Richmond street in London or in Middlesex County within the Louise Arbor attendance area will continue to go to Banting
• The remainder of the pupils at Louise Arbor French Immersion who now go on to attend Sir Frederick Banting secondary school would go to Clarke Road
• Pupils at Clara Brenton elementary school who now go on to attend Oakridge secondary school and Banting secondary schools would go to Oakridge only
• Pupils at Summerside elementary school who now go on to Clarke Road and Lord Dorchester secondary schools would go to Clarke Road only
• Pupils at Arthur Ford and Sir Isaac Brock elementary schools who now go on to Saunders secondary school would go to Westminster secondary school
• W. Sherwood Fox students who live close to Saunders will still attend Saunders; W. Sherwood Fox students who live north of Viscount Road will now go to Westminster.
• Pupils at Cleardale elementary school who now go on to London South collegiate institute and Laurier would go to Westminster
• Pupils at Ashley Oaks, Rick Hansen and White Oaks elementary schools who now go to Westminster would go to Laurier
• Pupils at Jack Chambers elementary school who now go to AB Lucas and Medway secondary schools would go to Lucas only
• Pupils at Cedar Hollow elementary school who now go to Lucas and Medway would go to Montcalm
• Pupils at Sir Arthur Currie elementary school who now go to Banting and Lucas secondary schools would go to Banting only
• All other attendance areas remain the same

Any boundary changes for incoming Grade 9 students would not take effect until September 2025. No existing high school students would be affected by this decision and younger siblings can register at the same school as their older one, board officials say.

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