Secondary School Boundary Study

SCHOOLS INVOLVED:

Bluevale CI
Cameron Heights CI
Eastwood CI
Elmira District SS
Forest Heights CI
Galt CI
Glenview Park SS
Grand River CI
Huron Heights SS
Jacob Hespeler SS
Kitchener-Waterloo C & VS
Preston HS
Sir John A. Macdonald SS
Southwood SS
Waterloo CI
Waterloo-Oxford DSS

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In the fall of 2009, the Ammendolia Group Ltd. (the “consultant”) was retained to undertake a comprehensive review of the board’s secondary school boundaries during the 2009-2010 school year. Phase 1 of the study was completed and presented to Board on May 17, 2010. The interim report outlined short, medium and long term recommendations the Board should consider in addressing changes to secondary school boundaries. The report and recommendations were grounded in key principles developed by the consultant, in consultation with staff. These principles are:

Secondary school boundaries should, to the extent possible, reflect a natural boundary that maximizes the number of walkers, serves a local population around the school and supports the delivery of core program;
Only when there is no natural boundary for a community or school should ‘satellite’ boundaries be used to relieve overcrowding or supplement core school populations.
The use of specialized programs, such as magnets, to supplement core school populations should be considered in lieu of physical boundary changes.

The consultant also recognized Board Policy 4013 – Secondary School Size in putting forward the recommendations.

CONSULTANT REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS

AD HOC COMMITTEE REPORTS

In response to the report from the consultant, the Board established an Ad Hoc Committee that was responsible for reviewing the recommendations and reporting back to the Board by January 2011.

BOARD REPORTS

PHASE 1 – PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The first phase of the Secondary School Boundary review involves the following:

Data collection, revising existing situation and relate to ongoing studies or processes
Arrive at preliminary observations and recommendations
May result in recommendations regarding boundary reviews

This phase was completed on May 17, 2010.

PHASE 2 – PUBLIC CONSULTATION

The second phase of the Secondary School Boundary review involves the following:

Develop preliminary recommendations and undertake community consultation process
Develop final boundary recommendations
Present recommendations to communities and Board

HHSS/PHS Boundary Study

Click here for more information on this study.

SJAM/KCI Boundary Study