Closing Dresden Area Central School, shutting down Dawn-Euphemia School and transforming Lambton-Kent Composite School into a K-12 school, are all included in a proposed pupil accommodation review plan by the Lambton-Kent District School 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.
“On November 24th (2015) we released and presented our pupil accommodation report for 2015 and 2016 and that included two initial staff reports on the recommendation for the consolidation of St. Clair Secondary School and Sarnia Collegiate… also a staff report on the consolidation of South Plympton and Wyoming,” Girardi told the Sydenham Current.
“So on that date, the trustees for the board voted to begin the ARC (Accommodation Review Committee) process to for those two projects. We are in the midst of those two ARCs at the moment. In additional to that, in the pupil accommodation report there were six other proposed pupil accommodation reviews suggested by phases.”
Among those phases, are the changes suggested for Dresden (see graphic):
Girardi said these changes to the Dresden area, plus proposed changes in Chatham, Blenheim, Ridgetown, Corunna, Mooretown, and Forest, are not currently moving forward.
“It’s a potential plan, but the trustees have not voted to move forward with ARCs on any of those,” Girardi said.
“The trustees would have to move forward. An initial staff report would have to be created for the phase. The trustees would have to vote to begin the ARC process and then we would have to go through the ARC process. So none of those things have occurred yet.”
Girardi said he cannot confirm when a decision would be made regarding Dresden, or any of the other potential phases.
“There is no timeline associated with the phases,” he said.
The pupil accommodation review states that the LKDSB is currently at 70% capacity and has approximately 9,400 empty spaces at their schools. In 2016, Dresden Area Central School was at 75% capacity, while Dawn-Euphemia was at 44% and Lambton-Kent Composite School was at 40%.
“The phases are a broad picture of where we have some shortfalls in terms of student capacity in our schools,” Girardi said.
“So some recommendations are about how we might go about becoming more efficient. In the midst of all this, the Ministry is reducing funding for unfilled pupil spaces. Since amalgamation we have declined drastically in terms of the number of students and our funding has decreased. On top of that, we have lost top-up funding, which means that our funding has further decreased.”
Girardi added: “This (potential plan) is meant as an idea of where we could move forward should we want to continue with ARC processes. The need is there because we have so many fewer students than when we amalgamated.”
Before the Wyoming and Sarnia ARCs were underway, the most recent ARC process by the Lambton-Kent District School Board was conducted in Wallaceburg.
The outcome of this ARC resulted in the closure of D.A. Gordon Public School, moved Grade 7 and 8 students to WDSS and made A.A. Wright Public School and H.W. Burgess Public School JK-6 schools.
Girardi said the ARC process is different now compared to when it took place in Wallaceburg.
“The Ministry has changed their accommodation process in the last year,” he said.
“The biggest difference is at present the LKDSB has to put forward their plan ahead of time. So we have to table what it is we are thinking or planning to do at the start of the ARC process. We could table more than one option but we have to recognize the one that we are planning to move forward with, and that is in the initial staff report.”
Following that, you have to have a series of public meetings, you have to have a series of working meetings for the committee, and you have to have discussions with your communities for potential partnerships and working with them as you decided what you are going to put into the final Staff Report.
Girardi said in the past, the ARC brought forth a recommendation. Now they are no longer required to do so.
“They can make suggestions, they can make a recommendation but the board does not have to use that,” he said. “In the end, the board writes its final staff report on its own with input from the community. Then it is taken to the trustees where they have an opportunity to vote on it.”
Girardi said no new accommodation reviews will be started until the current two are completed.
He anticipates them to be wrapped up in April or May.
From there, it is up in the air for which ARC would take place next.
“It could be any of those six areas,” Girardi said. “The notices are made about where the board would look to next. You still have to present an initial staff report. It could mirror this (what is in the pupil accommodation review) but it could have some alterations as well.”
Girardi added a variety of factors could come into play for what plan is rolled out.
“In a year from now a company could move into a location and change the demographics of the area, so it’s impossible to say that everything is going to be exactly as is,” he said. “However, the idea was to give people a sense of where we might be going in the next few years in relation to schools that have low capacity and some potential options.”
Here is a link to the full pupil accommodation review report.
The report states: “This process can lead to a LKDSB which has fewer but fuller schools which will be more efficient to operate. This will allow resources to be allocated equitably to all students, while promoting student success for all.”
Watch for more on this story.
I am very disheartened at a comment that the principal left on our answering machine today. We have lived here for almost 20 years. We have trimmed school’s yard, cut grass, encouraged children, attended functions and always tried to maintain a good repore’ with our school We are community activists wanting always to do better. We were involved when the teachers at our school went on strike and we opened our garage and made coffee every day of the strike it was in the winter and we wanted our teachers not only heard but also to be warm. A year ago we were warned about parking anything on school property and we have obeyed but then a couple of weeks ago a bad storm took part of our tree and some of our fence. We have been cleaning up each weekend and then today our son was able to come and help with putting in new post so my husband parked our truck and trailer at the back of our property which is the school’s. Then we get a nasty call to get truck off school property immediately. Needless to say we are disheartened. We are the kind of people to help others often and do not want to be bad neighbours. If the school needed us for anything we would be there. Personally we feel this must be an grudge by someone as in twenty years everything has been fine. We both feel so bad in the town of Dresden as we have helped many in their time of need that our school could not be a little supportive of us. We wonder why our kids and our world are so against one another. We have always taught be there for one another. Well thank you Dresden Area Central School, we won’t be on your property again even though we volunteer every week for the betterment of your students. Maybe we all could learn a lesson here. Very discouraged. Dan & Julie Shaw.