What’s the future of Kenner sports?
Decision to cancel International Baccalaureate program is short-sighted
Recently, the Kenner Rams senior boys’ basketball team returned home from Welland with a silver medal it earned at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championship.
In Timmins the previous year, with practically the same squad, the Kenner crew finished fourth.
Kenner’s silver-medal performance was an improbable result. Not so much because the team was coached by faculty members Will Seeley and Jamie Hutchinson, retired teacher Fred Blowes and retired police officer Sean Quinlan, but because, without the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at Kenner, the players would never have played on the same team.
Having opened in 1952, Kenner Collegiate is now Peterborough’s oldest public high school. Kenner has a long tradition of excellence in the arts, athletics, academics and community betterment.
Its motto, Omnia Per Laborum (Success Through Work), is exemplified by the varied career paths of the Kenner alumni who are members of the school’s Hall of Honour.
In 2004, under then principal Craig Allan and with the support of the director of education and superintendents, Kenner applied for IB status. In 2005, the first class entered Grade 9 in pre-IB. Of the 20 students that first year, 12 completed the whole diploma.
In subsequent years, the program began to flourish through promotion by the Kenner teaching faculty and through word of mouth. Students in the IB program became its best ambassadors.
The IB program offers high-quality, challenging educational courses. Students at Kenner and around Canada and the world, take courses and exams that challenge them to explore their interests, earn college credits and become more knowledgeable global citizens.
The IB program promotes critical-thinking skills, a nurturing of curiosity and challenges students to solve complex problems. Kenner is one of only 96 schools in Ontario offering IB.
Kenner’s 2024 senior boys’ basketball silver medallists consisted of15 players. Of this group,11were in the IB program. If not for the IB program, it is highly improbable that Kenner would have advanced to the OFSAA tournament last year, or this year. Remarkably, in three years playing together, this basketball team had a stellar record of 59 wins and only seven losses.
“This team has earned the respect of the local athletic community,” said coach Fred Blowes.
In addition to playing a high-tempo, high-scoring, team-oriented brand of basketball, this group excelled in other areas. Members have played on other sports teams, have belonged to school clubs and have been on the student council. Most importantly, they have excelled in the classroom.
So, what was the motivating factor this past November for the majority of Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board trustees to vote to eliminate the IB program at Kenner effective 2027? The program will continue until then, but no new students will be admitted. Was their decision based on the cost of the program? Equity?
There is a cost to students for entrance into the program. Students who apply and are accepted pay an annual fee of $2,600 for two years. I am told some students have paid their fees in instalments. I also learned students who do not have access to this fee can apply to the Kenner Foundation. Course fees will be covered for any deserving student.
Eliminating the IB program at Kenner is short-sighted. It is a decision that needs to be revisited.
Kenner’s IB program attracts highly motivated, well-rounded and sometimes athletically gifted students. Will cancelling the IB program be the final time a Kenner team (boys or girls) competes for an OFSAA championship?
Or, will there be another improbable Kenner team that reaches that pinnacle? After 2027, only time will tell.