School transition a positive one, says principal

a.a. wright public school wallaceburg

A year after D.A. Gordon Public School closed its doors for good, their former principal is looking back positively on the first year of transition.

“It’s a pretty big topic in my world,” said Ben Hazzard, the current principal at A.A. Wright Public School.

“I think the first thing to start off and say is our parents, our community members at large and our students, our staff has been very gracious as they allowed us time and space to work into the new organization as the year began with our large numbers and the reconfiguration of the school.”

After an accommodation review process was conducted in Wallaceburg, it was decided that D.A. Gordon would close, and Grade 7 and 8 students would be shifted to Wallaceburg District Secondary School. The bulk of the students from JK to Grade 6 in town started attending A.A. Wright Public School in September, with a handful attending H.W. Burgess.

Hazzard, the principal at D.A. Gordon last year, said as they first started to merge together, it took time to find new routines and new ways to be effective.

“Those came with the efforts and the suggestions of our whole community. I think that the Wallaceburg community has been extremely gracious to us, giving us time and space to really do what is best for our students.”

Hazzard said there were some challenges to overcome throughout the year.

“One is space wise,” he said. “We are over 100% of our capacity at A.A.Wright which has its extreme benefits but also organizationally, takes some time to figure out the ways that we can be most efficient around our school and make sure we do the best for our kids. So space is a big concern.”

Hazzard said the other challenge was shifting to a different configuration, with the JK to Grade 6 format.

“How would that look? How would that work? How would that feel?” Hazzard said.

“I think the biggest part was to make sure that we at A.A.Wright welcomed everybody into the fully functional and fully participatory members of our school community. That was absolutely essential as we got going in. It took time. To authentically have someone feel connected to a school and to a community, I think it takes time to do that well.”

Hazzard said he feels the passion from the D.A. Gordon students translated well into A.A. Wright.

“I am very proud of the passion that I see toward A.A.Wright from all students, not just the D.A.Gordon students. It is very important that the students that were already at A.A. Wright are passionate about A.A.Wright,” he said.

“We had a play day recently at Brander Park where we went out and enjoyed the splash pad and did 14 different stations around the park and then did a whole school wide picnic. One of the stations was writing chalk on the path with different messages. One of the student unprompted wrote: ‘I love our school.’ I think that really sums up what we were hoping to be, which was one whole community.”

Hazzard said the spirit of the accommodation review plan translated well, while some adjustments needed to be made.

“It’s good to make a plan. It helps you get ready for what can happen next, but you are never really prepared for what the reality is no matter how good the plan is. The transition committees had really spent time thinking. We have really tried to stay true to the spirit of the plan and I think that’s what really came through,” he said.

“The spirit often was around giving our students in Wallaceburg more opportunities. I was just making notes the other day about all of the things at have happened at A.A.Wright over the past year and a lot of them, I would say over half, are new opportunities available because of the consolidation.

Hazzard said opportunities that stood out to him are: the art and craft club, the Mine Craft club, junior sports, intramurals for primary and junior students, school-wide turkey dinner, Christmas concert at WDSS, cultural celebration day, play day, among others.

“Really nice, collective, proud moments where we could share a common experience.”

Hazzard said the creation of more engaging learning spaces at the school has been successful, along with the use of more technology in the classroom.

“With more students. we have more concentration of resources and they have been able to access those resources well,” he said.

Hazzard also credited the transition coordinator Gayle Stucke, the senior team at the Lambton Kent District School Board with Jim Costello and Joy Badder, and the entire LKDSB senior team for the successful transition.

“They have really encouraged us to look for more opportunities for our students in the Wallaceburg area< Hazzard said.

The last day if school is today, Thursday, June 25.

The school laso created a wrap-up video as well, have a look:


– Photo credit: A.A. Wright on Facebook

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