Middle school may be housed within Crestwood
Board to hold community forum, discuss with councils
The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board is considering a proposal to establish a Grades 7 and 8 intermediate school at Crestwood Secondary School for the city’s west end.
Trustees heard the proposal at their monthly board meeting Tuesday night and are expected to make a final decision in January.
The plan is meant to alleviate overcapacity at four of the elementary schools that feed Crestwood.
“There is space at Crestwood, and I think this works well in a lot of ways,” said Diane Lloyd, board chair.
Intermediate students would be housed in a separate wing of Crestwood, apart from high school students, but would still have access to school facilities, such as the gym.
“There’s lots of planning that has to take place. This is just letting people know that this kind of proposal is being suggested and that we’re looking at it,” she said.
The proposal would affect Grade 7 and 8 students at Kawartha Heights Public School, Millbrook-South Cavan Public School, North Cavan Public School and Westmount Public School.
Westmount and MillbrookSouth Cavan are overcapacity and there’s no room to expand at Westmount, according to KPR.
Currently, Westmount students entering Grade 9 are split between Crestwood and Adam Scott Collegiate. The French immersion students go to Adam Scott and the English stream go to Crestwood. That would stay the same, except Westmount students would be leaving their elementary nest two years earlier.
Millbrook-South Cavan also runs from junior kindergarten to Grade 8, but instead of transitioning to Crestwood in Grade 9, they’d be on their way there in Grade 7.
Meanwhile, students from Kawartha Heights and North Cavan, who are currently being
sent to James Strath Public School for Grades 7 and 8, would be sent directly to Crestwood instead. That would eliminate one transition for the students and free up space at James Strath as well, Lloyd said.
James Strath is at capacity and is expected to be over capacity by 2023.
Before any decisions are made, Lloyd said the board will hold meetings with school councils to discuss the idea and answer questions. The board also plans to host a community forum, where residents and parents are welcome to attend.
“People tend to be a little upset when any kind of change is made, so we have to make sure that we have ample opportunities for them to make their concerns known.”
Those meetings are expected to start in November and possibly spill into December as well.
People will be able to ask questions or leave comments on the board’s website soon.
As the city’s population continues to grow, particularly in the west end, overcrowding at schools will likely continue to be issue.
Although the board already owns land on Glenforest Boulevard to build a new school, Lloyd said it isn’t needed just yet when space is still available at Crestwood.
That said, Lloyd pointed out that the board can only plan so far ahead because the Ministry of Education only allows a new build or the rearrangement of schools based on the current population, not on the projected one.
“So even though we may feel that things will be very different in 10 or 15 years, we can’t always do everything we might right away, we have to wait.”