The Rainbow District School Board is assuring parents concerned with its plans to move Grade 7s and 8s into an elementary school that right now only goes up to Grade 6 it will do what it can to make the situation “manageable.”
Walden Public School, which currently has 488 students from junior kindergarten to Grade 6, opened five years ago after George Vanier Public School and Jesse Hamilton Public School in Lively were consolidated and a new school built.
Grade 7 and 8 students from the area were sent to nearby Lively District Secondary School.
But the board is considering closing the Lively high school as soon as next fall as part of its accommodation review process, and moving the 105 intermediate students into the elementary school.
A decision on the matter will be made in January.
The Walden Public School parents' council released a report this week entitled “Walden: Unaccommodated,” detailing their concerns.
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“We assume they're going to need at least two portables,” said Richard Eberhardt, whose son is in Grade 1 at the school, and who helped write the report on parents' concerns.
Using portables would impact the school's “green” designation because they're inefficient to heat. They'd also reduce playground space, he said.
But director of education Norm Blaseg said the board is not considering using portables, and if the decision is made to move Grade 7 and 8s to the school, they'll make do with the space available.
He said the school actually has an on-the-ground capacity of a little more than 600 students, so it would actually be able to house a JK-8 program — just.
“If the 7s and 8s were in there, it would be pretty close to the 600 mark,” Blaseg said. “We would be able to make it work. Would it be a great situation? No. But it would be manageable.”
Blaseg said the board would look at the school “with a fine-tooth comb,” repurposing space within the school and getting music and French teachers to travel from class to class instead of having a dedicated classroom.
He said space would likely loosen up again after a few years because enrolment is declining in the Walden area.
But Eberhardt said the board advertised the school's capacity as 500 students until recently.
“We're concerned about the educational quality for the students that are at Walden right now, and the Grade 7s and 8s,” he said.
“You've got a school that was built and designed for K-6 students. It's working great, the educational quality is fantastic, and the Grade 7s and 8s are well accommodated at Lively District Secondary School.”
He said he's concerned about the fact that the board doesn't seem to have budgeted any money to accommodate extra students at Walden Public School.
Blaseg said the board isn't considering asking the ministry for funds to help with the transition.
Walden Public School has already had a taste of what life is like with Grade 7 and 8 students there.
During a teachers' labour dispute in April and May of 2015, intermediate students were sent to Walden Public School.
The parents' report said this was described as staff and students as an “extreme disruption,” as gym classes and music classes were held in the school's foyer and the library was used as a classroom.
Blaseg said that was a situation that happened quickly, and the board had to adapt without much prior planning.
“It was a bit of a shock because it was not something they expected or planned on,” he said. “This would be a planned transition, a planned integration.”
