Declining enrollment and increasing costs of operating underused schools has District School Board Ontario North East (DSBONE) contemplating school closures and amalgamation of schools.
The DSBONE jurisdiction includes English public elementary and secondary schools from Hearst to Cochrane, Timmins, Kirkland Lake and south to the Temagami area.
The push to reduce costs of operating the schools originates from the Ontario Ministry of Education which announced in 2015 that it will reduce future funding to school boards across Ontario.
For Timmins this may mean shutting down a number of schools and accommodating students in nearby schools or building new larger school for east-end Timmins over the next five years.
The board has introduced a motion to close one school in Timiskaming Shores, Haileybury Public School, by June 30, 2016.
The proposed changes are laid out in a five-year capital plan for the school board’s facilities that was approved in May 2015.
To read the DSBONE five-year capital plan click here
An official from the school board described the capital plan as a work in progress that is open to change as new information emerges. It is not set in stone in other words.
Currently, according to the capital plan, schools in its jurisdiction are using less than 50 percent of classroom spaces. Its projected that by 2019 60 percent of classrooms will be unused.
Schools that have been recommended for closure in Timmins identified in the five-year plan are:
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Schumacher Public School
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R. Ross Beattie
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Bertha Shaw
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Golden Avenue
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Roland Michener Secondary
The capital plan calls for the accommodation of students from Schumacher Public School at Pinecrest and W.E. Miller Public Schools beginning in September, 2019.
Students from R. Ross Beattie, a Grade 7-8 school with both an English program and French immersion, would be incorporated into Timmins High and Vocational School beginning in September, 2018.
However, THVS already is at 89.5 % capacity. To accommodate the influx of additional schools THVS will need to undergo an expansion costing about $1 million creating a grade 7-12 school.
A new super school housing kindergarten to Grade 12 could be built in east-end Timmins to replace Bertha Shaw, Golden Avenue and Roland Michener Secondary.
The cost of the new school is estimated to be $42 million dollars.
The new school would be built on the grounds of Roland Michener Secondary. A request for that funding to construct the east-end super school would be made to the provincial government in January 2018.
In addition to dwindling enrollment, Schumacher Public School also requires almost $900,000 in major repairs. Roland Michener requires $5.3 million in repairs
The closures and new projects will all be subject public comment through an accommodation review process at the appropriate time.
The school board has already met with the city council privately to discuss the future shape of the city’s English public school system.
All surplus schools including Schumacher Public School, Golden Avenue Public School, Bertha Shaw, R. Ross Beattie would be put up for sale once they are no longer in use.
The decisions contained in the five-year capital plan by the school board are subject to the Ministry of Education’s decision on requests for funding.
The school board has already closed the Whitney Public School/Frank Krznaric Public School in 2014. Kindergarten to grade 6 students were transferred to Golden Avenue Public School, while grade 7 and grade 8 students went to Roland Michener
While there are no public schools slated for closure in Timmins for the 2016-2017 school year, the Haileybury Public School in Temiskaming Shore has been designated for closure in June, 2016 and students consolidated with New Liskeard Public School for the 2016-2017 school year.
The board meanwhile submitted a formal request to the Ministry of Education to fund a brand new super school from junior kindergarten to grade 12 that would accommodate all students enrolled at Haileybury Public School, New Liskeard Public School, Timiskaming District Secondary and Timiskaming District Elementary.
The board has invited delegations from parents from Timiskaming Shores to make a presentation at the March 1 school board meeting about the proposed reconfiguration of area schools.
A final decision on the closure of Haileybury Public School will be made by the Board at a Special Board Meeting on Wednesday, March 23, 2016.
For information on the proposal to close Haileybury Public School click here
