School closure urged
Group recommends that board shut down Prince of Wales
Posted By RAYMOND BOWE
Posted 1 year ago
Prince of Wales school will close and Hillcrest's new attendance area will stretch nearly eight kilometres.
That's the recommendation that an accommodation review committee will present to the Simcoe County District School Board after months of debate.
After Prince of Wales Public School was deemed prohibitive to repair (PTR) -- meaning upgrades would cost more than 65 per cent of the value of a new school -- the committee was struck to find a solution about how to deal with midtown students.
Four options were presented at a meeting last week, but a fifth option -- which eventually won favour --
was unveiled last night at Barrie Central Collegiate Institute.
The "hybrid" option, known as AB, will see Andrew Hunter, Hillcrest and Portage View schools service about 1,500 students. It means improvements and additions to all three schools, as well as boundary changes. Prince of Wales' extended French program moves to Hillcrest, which will now have a catchment area going from Bayfield Street to Miller Drive in Barrie's west end.
"There are going to be some consequences, one way or the other," committee member Ray Duhamel said. "We did what we felt was the best choice."
Several parents have been vocal as they tried to keep Prince of Wales open, even though it was built in 1876 and would require about $6.7 million in improvements. But they came to embrace the small-school environment.
"I'll home-school before they go to Hillcrest," said Joanne Curl, whose two children are among the 215 Prince of Wales students. "My kids are going to get lost in the system."
But committee members reiterated that the ultimate decision is in the hands of elected school board trustees.
"Our report is simply a recommendation," committee member Troy Bourassa said, adding all five options still go before the board.
Another committee meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday to develop a final report. Board trustees will then listen to delegations April 28. The board is expected to make a final decision in late May or early June.
After discussing each option, the "hybrid" choice was developed for a variety of reasons, including maintaining the connection between Springwater Township and Portage View school, and maximizing the walking population at each school, Bourassa said.
After a secret ballot in which the least popular option was dropped, almost three-quarters of committee members with voting power chose option AB, which would see 420 students at Andrew Hunter, 480 at Hillcrest and 500 at Portage View.
Coun. Jeff Lehman, who represents the city's downtown, was dismayed by the decision to close Prince of Wales.
"I find this decision completely contrary to the current direction of the community and short-sighted in the extreme," he said in a letter to the committee.
Lehman says the school board's enrolment projections are outdated, as the city moves towards a new downtown plan -- as outlined by the province -- that could see 30,000 people and jobs by 2031.
"This would be more than twice the current population and employment in the core," he said.
Although intensification doesn't necessarily translate into more students, Lehman said it will mean a slight increase.
However, Bourassa disagrees with Lehman's assessment.
"The board's projections are accurate to a very fine degree," he said, noting high-rise condominiums along the city's lakeshore only account for two elementary students.
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