Waterloo Region District School Board

On Tuesday, September 7, 2010 approximately 400 students from Ryerson PS in Cambridge will go to a brand new school with the same name as their old school.   It will be their first day in the new school.

Students and teachers will gather behind the new school with a piper leading the way.  A town crier will announce the playing of “O Canada” and Principal Peter Berndt will welcome the students.  After a short ribbon cutting ceremony, students will enter the school and begin their school year.

All Waterloo Region schools will be open on Tuesday, September 7 to welcome students to the beginning of the 2010-11 school year.

Students should be at their school at the regular starting time.

All school buses will be running and it is a good idea to be at your bus stop a little early. Buses will leave schools to deliver students home at regular times.

 Some municipalities have proposed that a storm water management tax/fee be levied against school boards, which are property tax exempt.  The Waterloo Region District School Board opposes the application of a storm water management tax/user fee to school boards.  Some of the Board’s reasons are listed below:

Students from Westmount PS, New Dundee PS and Mackenzie King PS submitted names in the "Horse with No Name" contest sponsored by The Waterloo Regional Police. Students submitted name suggestions for the two horses in the Region's new mounted patrol unit. The only rule for naming the horses was that the names had to represent the history of Waterloo Region. The names the three schools submitted were chosen and students and staff were present at the naming ceremony Friday, June 18 at Police headquarters.

 The Waterloo Region District School Board is please to announce the official opening of a major two storey 12 classroom addition at Wilson Avenue Public School.

Special Guests, parents, students and staff  gathered in the schoolyard of the school on Tuesday, June 22, 2010 for a short ceremony and a ribbon cutting. An open house and community barbeque followed to ceremony.

The Waterloo Region District School Board has approved the 2010-11 school year budget at a special board meeting held June 16, 2010.

Board Chair Mike Ramsay indicated, “We are very pleased to have approved this budget. It is designed to support our students and teachers and their continued success.”

Ramsay continued, “I would like to commend everyone, especially our Finance staff and Senior Administration, who worked hard to develop this budget. It reflects our efforts to align our programs and services to support the learning agenda for our students.”

The Waterloo Region District School Board has announced the elementary schools which have been approved by the Ministry of Education to implement the second phase of the all day every day, Early Learning Kindergarten Program for 4 and 5 year olds. The program will be phased in to all schools in the province over the next five years. The phase two sites will begin in September 2011.

The Early Learning Program will be introduced in five schools and 18 classrooms for phase two. Those schools are:

The opening date for the new North-East Waterloo elementary school has been revised. Millen Woods Public School was originally scheduled to open September 2011. The revised opening date for the new school has been changed to January 2011.

Superintendent of Education Mark Schinkel commented, “The reality of a construction-friendly winter and many unanticipated positive factors has resulted in the adjustment of the projected opening date. We are very pleased that construction will be finished to allow for students and staff to begin learning in their new school.”

At the Annual General Meeting of the Ontario Public School Board’s Association (OPSBA) held over the weekend in Windsor, Waterloo Region District School Board Trustee Catherine Fife was elected President of the organization. This is the first time that a trustee from the Waterloo Region DSB has been elected President of the organization.

Catherine, a trustee with the Waterloo Region District school Board since 2003, has served as Vice President of OPSBA since 2007, as Regional-Vice Chair and has also been the OPSBA Representative on Education Alliance for a Sustainable Ontario.

The election of student trustees for the 2010-2011 school year has been held. Natalie Wennyk from Bluevale Collegiate Institute and Brett Crowley from Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School have been elected.

According to Board Policy and the Education Act, school boards provide for representation of the interests of students through the election of one or more secondary school students to the board by the Board’s students.