THUNDER BAY – It’s not easy to consider closing schools but given current challenges, it’s the right thing to do, insists the public school board’s director of education.
The Lakehead Public School Board received a school renewal plan at a trustees’ board meeting Tuesday night, which proposes closing two public high schools and a number of elementary schools.
“We’re having difficulty providing the current breadth of programming with our current demographic. The plan we’re suggesting will remove those difficulties to a significant extent,” Ian MacRae told the board at Tuesday night’s meeting, which was attended by less than a dozen members of the public.
“This is about making it a better situation for students. In terms of transitioning, we will do everything we can to ensure students and parents that the result will be a better situation for them. This is not about money. This is about making a better situation, a better learning environment, for our students.”
The board has experienced plummeting enrolment within the past five years. The two north side high schools, Hammarskjold High School and Superior Collegiate and Vocational Institute, are built for a combined 2,250 students but are expected to hit 1,200 by 2020.
The two south side high schools, Sir Winston Churchill Collegiate and Vocational Institute and Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute, have a combined capacity of 2,100 students but are forecasted to only have 1,200 as well.
A smaller student population makes it challenging to offer a wide variety courses, specifically for Grade 11 and 12 students.
“Anytime in a secondary school your enrolment goes below about 800 you’re not able to offer the options that a lot of students need that might be somewhat specialized. When you do have that critical mass, you’re able to offer those programs with a minimal number of conflicts in their individual timetables,” MacRae said.
Changes to provincial funding grants, including the removal of base top-up funding for underutilized schools and declining enrolment is putting a strain on the board’s budget which is only expected to be amplified in coming years.
David Wright, superintendent of business, said money will be made available by the Ministry of Education to consolidate under-capacity schools.
“I know the story has already started out as Lakehead Public Schools is to consider closing schools. I’d like to be clear about this presentation, this report is not about school closures, it’s about an opportunity,” Wright said.
“It’s about an opportunity to build, renew and refresh our facilities, to target capital investments for our long-term viable schools to ensure they’re attractive, updated and well-resourced inside and outside, reflecting the excellent academic programs we offer to students every day.”
The renewal plan would see the board cut the number of public high schools in half, only operating one on each side of the city.
There are two options under consideration on the north side.
The first would see Hammarskjold, which opened in 1962, close its doors and students relocated to Superior in September 2017. Two elementary schools, C.D. Howe Public School and St. James Public School, would be shuttered with those students moved to an expanded Vance Chapman Public School in September 2018.
The second would result in Superior, which opened less than seven years ago at a total construction cost of $32.8 million, being transformed into an elementary school with C.D. Howe, St. James and Vance Chapman all closing and students going to Superior. Hammarskjold would become the lone north side high school, starting in September 2017.
Those options are expected to cut between $9 and $18.5 million in school renewal costs over the next five years and save $1.4 million in yearly shortfalls.
Superior was opened after the closures of two other former public high schools on the north side, Port Arthur Collegiate Institute and Hillcrest High School.
In order to convert Superior, built specifically as a high school, the board would have to modify some specific rooms not used in the elementary curriculum such as tech shops and arts rooms.
“Absolutely it was not a mistake to build Superior. From my understanding, Hillcrest was a prohibitive to repair building," Wright said.
"Unfortunately sometimes circumstances change and the population growth doesn’t happen in areas where you think it’s going to grow so we have not attracted the enrolment to Superior we thought we would.
The south side plan would close Churchill after the 2016-2017 school year, with those students being sent to Westgate in September 2017. In addition, two elementary schools, Agnew H. Johnston and Edgewater Park Public School would close with a new elementary school built on the Churchill site.
Wright told the board Churchill is on the chopping block because it has been deemed "past prohibitive" to renovate, despite Churchill being projected to require $6.1 million in five-year facility renewal needs compared to $10.1 million for Westgate.
“There is some work we have to do at Westgate," Wright said. "We’re hoping to leverage some of that consolidation capital money from the ministry to help us renew that facility but by in large Westgate as a facility is in better shape than Churchill.”
The south side option is projected to save $12.1 million in school renewal costs over the next five years and eliminate a $500,000 annual operating deficit. It is also projected to boost capacity at Westgate and the new elementary school to between 95 and 100 per cent.
Hyde Park Public School and Kingsway Park Public School would also be consolidated into one building.
The proposed plan would result in the north side high school, either Hammarskjold or Superior, offering the only public French immersion program and the south side high school, Westgate, offering the International Baccalaureate program.
The Grade 7 and 8 program that currently runs at Churchill would be abolished, with home schools running from kindergarten to Grade 8. Wright said the board is not planning to intake any new Grade 7 students at Churchill next year.
The board is to vote next week on whether to establish pupil accommodation reviews, which would be the first steps towards possible closures.
