Proposed boundaries don't include their community
Nov 20, 2008 - 10:13 AM
By Crystal Crimi
OSHAWA -- Some Kedron Public School parents want their kids to attend a new Oshawa high school, not an existing one.
Almost a dozen parents from the Kedron community presented questions about the new north Oshawa high school's potential feeder schools during the Durham District School Board's Nov. 17 meeting. The group's attendance came following a Nov. 4 community meeting regarding proposed boundaries for the new secondary school.
Ajax Trustee Marilyn Crawford, the board's chairwoman, said her best advice to the parents was to ensure everyone fills out and returns the survey given to the Kedron community regarding the proposed boundaries. The results won't be ignored, Trustee Crawford said, and added perhaps another meeting will be needed.
Through the proposed boundaries, students at Norman G. Powers, Sherwood, Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Gordon B. Attersley public schools, and the area north of Rossland Road whose students attend Athabasca Public School, are designated to attend the new Oshawa high school.
But Kedron parents had initially thought their kids would be attending the new high school as well.
David Visser, facilities services superintendent, wasn't aware of any promises previously made to that community regarding boundaries, he said.
One parent was concerned about the exclusion of Kedron because the new high school is closest to its community, while O'Neill Collegiate Vocational Institute, where the students would continue being sent, has a high number of students.
The distance from Kedron to the new secondary school is 2.1 kilometres, while the four feeder schools slated to go there range from 980 metres to 1.8 kms, Mr. Visser said. The catchment area for Kedron is not just around the school, but also in the area of Thornton, Stevenson, and Conlin roads, he said.
Kathy Langlois, a Kedron parent, said there's some conflicting numbers about O'Neill's capacity. Three years ago they went through high school boundary issues for O'Neill because of its high enrolment. The school has a capacity for 1,293 students and a current enrolment of 1,444, the boundary report said.
"Into the future, though, what we see . . . is that their numbers do decline significantly over the next two to three years," Mr. Visser said, and added it will be lower than capacity.
Another parent said it makes no sense to send students to a more distant high school when a closer one is being built. It takes students one hour and two buses to get to O'Neill, but the new school would require only a 15-minute ride, another parent said.
"Staff do not take the setting of boundaries lightly," Mr. Visser said.
There's no way they can make 100 per cent of the people happy, but they have sent out surveys to see if there's anything else they can do for the community, he said. The surveys are due back Nov. 24 and if there is no substantial changes required, staff will propose the boundaries as presented, he added.
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