The Bluewater District School Board (BWDSB) is looking to submit a report to the Ministry of Education for a new school in the wake of projected growth.
During a meeting on Jan. 10, the BWDSB Business Committee of the Whole received a report detailing replacing the Northport Elementary School to handle a utilization increase of their schools in Saugeen Shores.
The report says as part of the BWDSB’s facility planning, staff identified enrolment growth in Northport Elementary School, Port Elgin-Saugeen Central School, and Saugeen District Senior School, and are looking to ensure sufficient student space is available in the area.
The report says currently, enrolment at the three schools is at 104 per cent utilization, with 119 per cent at Northport Elementary School, 90 per cent at Port Elgin-Saugeen Central School, and 119 per cent in the elementary panel at Saugeen District Senior School. Portables are being used to accommodate the over utilization, with four available at Northport, and two at Saugeen District Senior School.
For the 2023-24 school year, the report says utilization of the three schools are expected to rise to 109 per cent.
“We are over utilized now and it is only going to get more over utilized as the community continues to grow and our projects show that it is going to continue to grow over several years and the existing facilities are just undersized for the size of the community that we have and that is not good for students, it’s not good for teachers. Nobody wants to have kids in portables or even worse bussed off to other communities to go school. The kids in our community need to have schools close to home, and they need to have good quality schools with the kind of facilities that will make sure they get all the opportunities to succeed and get a great education,” says Mayor Luke Charbonneau.
While the board believes the schools will be able to handle the projected increase in the short term, a plan is required for beyond.
“BWDSB will be submitting a business case to the Ministry of Education for a larger replacement school for Northport Elementary School. Further communication with the municipality will reaffirm their endorsement for this plan,” says the report. “Looking at the next several years, alternate accommodation strategies may need to be considered to accommodate enrolment in the area.”
Charbonneau says they will be there with the board lobbying the Ministry of Education to get funding together for the new school the BWDSB is looking to build.
“We have a really positive relationship with the board and our staff have been in constant communication with them trying to provide demographic information and other information they may need to build a really robust plan. For years now, I and other town officials have been advocating both with the board and with the ministry. We have been seeing this coming and the need, we know the need has been there, so we have been advocating to get a new building for several years,” says Charbonneau.
Charbonneau adds the area is quickly growing with a lot of young families making Saugeen Shores and Port Elgin their home.
“We need to have facilities to serve them, like schools,” says Charbonneau.
Charbonneau says he hopes the process of providing the report to the ministry and the receiving approval moves quickly, as it is a multi-year process.