THUNDER BAY -- School closures aren’t on the horizon at the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, says its superintendent of business and corporate services.
Sheila Chiodo said TBCDSB capacity rates are above 80 per cent and closures aren’t being considered, despite a provincial report that says 600 schools across Ontario are underutilized and costing the province $1 billion annually.
Education Minister Liz Sandals on Thursday acknowledged there is a problem, but said not all affected schools will be closed, leaving it up to trustees to decide which ones should be shuttered. Sandals also suggested some could be merged with other boards, while others may sold as surplus.
The announcement came as a bit of a surprise, Chiodo said.
“First of all, this is Thunder Bay, not Toronto,” she said on Friday afternoon.
“Thunder Bay Catholic has been in a very fortunate position in that most of our schools are at or near capacity.”
In fact, two schools – St. Martin and Holy Cross – underwent renovations to add capacity to accommodate the addition of full-day kindergarten.
“We have experienced some enrolment decline over the last five years, as has the province. However, our board has been able to support that and the enrolment has started to stabilize,” Chiodo said.
She added only to TBCDSB schools are near the 65 per cent enrolment mark. In the Ontario capital, the Toronto District School Board announced earlier this week that 130 of their schools were below 65 per cent.
Sandals said low capacity didn’t necessarily mean a school should be slated for closure, noting that newer, underutilized schools could be kept open, while more heavily populated, but older, ones could be on the chopping block.
During the recent municipal election mayoral candidate and former journalist Shane Judge made news during a candidate’s debate, publicly stating he had been told a high school in Thunder Bay would soon close.
Both the Lakehead Public School Board and the Catholic board denied the statement at the time.
“Certainly there has never been any discussion with trustees around a school closure at any time in the near future, nor in the distant future,” said public board director of education Ian MacRae on Oct. 16.
The public board was contacted for comment on Friday, and a spokesman said they had not been asked by the province for a list of underutilized schools.
Chiodo said just because schools aren’t slated for closure at this time doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen down the road.
She’s just not expecting it.
“There’s no danger right now. We are preparing a capital plan to be brought to the board. We look at different things, such as enrolment projections. We look at the demographics of the city and the surrounding communities,” Chiodo said.
“We also look at the condition of the buildings and the funding associated with those buildings.”
Any recommendations that might come forward through that plan would involve a heavy consultation process, she added.
