The public school board is set to launch a pair of accommodation reviews at schools in Chatham and the Forest area.
At the October 4, 2016 Special Board Meeting, the Lambton Kent District School Board approved the following Motions:
“That the Board approve the establishment of an Accommodation Review Committee for the Consolidation of the John N. Given Public School Kindergarten to Grade 8 English Language Program at Tecumseh Public School and the Relocation of the John N. Given Public School Grade 7 and 8 French Immersion Program to McNaughton Avenue Public School.”
“That the Board approve the establishment of an Accommodation Review Committee for the Consolidation of Aberarder Central School, Bosanquet Central School, Kinnwood Central School and North Lambton Secondary School into a Kindergarten to Grade 12 School on the Kinnwood Central School Site.”
Administration presented the LKDSB Pupil Accommodation Report 2016-2017 to Trustees at the Special Board Meeting, as well as the two Initial Staff Reports. The Pupil Accommodation Report 2016-2017 includes an updated, multi-year Pupil Accommodation Review Plan by Phases. The LKDSB enters its second year of Accommodation Review, which began in 2015-16. The full reports can be found on the LKDSB website at www.lkdsb.net under the Accommodation Review link.
Two Accommodation Review Committees (ARC) will be established to represent the schools under review and act as the official conduit for information shared between the LKDSB and the school communities. The ARC membership includes the following from each affected school: one to three students and an equal number of parents/guardians; a school administrator; and a community representative, as well as a First Nations representative, if appropriate. Gary Girardi, Superintendent of Capital Planning and Accommodation, will chair the ARC meetings.
The first Accommodation Review public meeting for the Forest area will be held on November 16, 2016 and the first Accommodation Review public meeting for the Chatham area is on December 1, 2016.
Further information will be posted on the LKDSB website.
The final decision rests with the Board of Trustees, who will decide the most appropriate pupil accommodation arrangements for the delivery of LKDSB elementary and secondary programs.
An accommodation review was held recently in Wallaceburg, which led to the closure of D.A. Gordon Public School.
Closing Dresden Area Central School, shutting down Dawn-Euphemia School and transforming Lambton-Kent Composite School into a K-12 school, have all been included in a proposed pupil accommodation review plan by the board.
However, Gary Girardi, superintendent of education for capital planning and pupil accommodation for the board, says this specific plan is not set in stone and has not been voted on to move forward.
Read the story from March of this year about the issue: Dresden school closure part of ‘potential plan’
