Boundary Implications, Construction Update

SUDBURY CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
165A D’YOUVILLE STREET, SUDBURY, ONTARIO P3C 5E7 tel. (705) 673-5620 fax (705) 673-6670
http://www.scdsb.edu.on.ca
Report to:
Chairperson Barry MacDonald
and Members of the Board
Subject Matter:
South/Central Boundary Implications
Submitted by:
Catherine McCullough, Director of Education
Report Date:
2011-01-13
Meeting Date:
2011-01-18
Our File:
In May 2009, the Trustees of the Sudbury Catholic District School Board passed a motion to
build a 550 pupil place JK-8 green school attached to St. Benedict Secondary School. A second
motion was passed in which the current students enrolled at St. Theresa and Corpus Christi
would have a choice of attending St. Francis or Holy Cross.
Reg09-50
“That the Sudbury Catholic District School Board approves the closure of Corpus Christi School
and consolidates the current students into St. Francis School and flexible boundaries be applied
for current Corpus Christi students only.”
Reg09-54
“That the Sudbury Catholic District School Board approves the closure of St. Theresa School
and consolidates the current students into the dual track JK-8 “green” School on the St.
Benedict Secondary site and flexible boundaries be applied for current St. Theresa students
only.”
Reg09-55
“That the Sudbury Catholic District School Board approves the closure of St. Christopher
School and consolidates the current students into the new dual-track JK-8 “green” school on the
St. Benedict site.”
Reg09-58
“ That the Sudbury Catholic District School Board approves the grandfathering of the current
school communities when implementing the new enrollment boundaries for this planning area.
That flexible boundaries be applied until the date of the move for Corpus Christi and St. Theresa
schools.”
During the 2009-2010 school year, it was proposed to have a JK-12 site with a Multimedia
Centre linking the two schools with an elementary pupil placement capacity of 550. A bus trip
was organized to visit a school in Lion’s Head similar to what was being proposed. Parent
feedback indicated a clear preference for the two schools to be separated. The decision was
made to separate the two schools. Although the new school still had the pupil placement
capacity of 550, it lost flexibility in accommodating additional students now that it was separated
”SCHOOLS TO BELIEVE IN”
from the secondary school. As a result of continued consultation and strong recommendations
from the South/Central stakeholders, the decision was made to not only construct Holy Cross
separate and away from St. Benedict Secondary School but that the grade 7 and 8 students
become part of St. Benedicts. This resulted in a change of capacity for Holy Cross from 550 to
350 pupil places reducing the amount of flexibility even further. The 7-12 site now has an
additional 200 pupil places as it shifted from Holy Cross to St. Benedict.
It is important to note that the 550 pupil placement was determined and funded by the Ministry
of Education as meeting the needs of the South/Central planning area based on student numbers.
It is equally as important to highlight that a 550 pupil place school attached to the existing St.
Benedict Catholic Secondary School, as was originally proposed, would have allowed for much
more flexibility and growth than the current capacity of 350.
In an attempt to implement the Board Motion that would permit families from St. Theresa and
Corpus Christi to choose which school they wanted their children to attend in September 2011, a
preliminary survey was distributed to both school communities in December 2010.
Communication also included an information letter outlining the vision for south/central along
with a personalized preference letter to each family indicating which boundary they were in and
distance to each of the schools. (See Appendix A and Appendix B).
Final survey results indicated 92% of the Corpus Christi school community and 95% of the St.
Theresa school community wish to attend Holy Cross. Should these requests be implemented
this would result in Holy Cross being significantly over capacity and St. Francis under capacity.
Projected Enrolment for September 2011
St. Francis and Holy Cross
St. Francis
(capacity is 560
students)
Holy Cross
(capacity is 350
students)
Corpus Christi
(JK – Gr. 5 = 132)
11
121
St. Theresa
(JK – Gr. 5 =110)
5
105
Schools
St. Michael
(JK – Gr. 5 = 42)
St. Christopher
(JK – Gr. 5 = 123)
St. Francis
(JK – Gr. 5 = 242)
Projected JK Registrations
42
123
242
Sources
Based on Preference
Letters (December 15,
2010)
Based on Preference
Letters
(December 15, 2010)
Enrolment as of
November 30, 2010
Enrolment as of
November 30, 2010
Enrolment as of
November 30, 2010
50
40
Projections
Projected New Enrolment
(1-6)
12
12
Projections
Total
362
401
”SCHOOLS TO BELIEVE IN”
As of January 10th, Laura Kuzenko, principal of Holy Cross, has received numerous inquiries
and has begun taking registrations of families within the boundary of Holy Cross.
Other alternatives for moving forward with the amalgamation of these identified school
communities will now need to be considered as we need to accommodate external registrations
and growth in a 350 pupil place school. Should the school be filled to capacity (350) now,
registrations will need to be capped and waiting lists started.
Enrolment for Holy Cross Based on Boundary
St. Christopher (JK-5)
123
Projected JK
40
Projected new (1-6)
12
St. Theresa (in boundary)
48
Corpus Christi (in boundary)
49
Total
272
Note: 272 students fills Holy Cross to approximately 80% capacity.
Enrolment for St. Francis Based on Boundary
St. Francis (JK-5)
242
Projected JK
50
Projected new (1-6)
12
St. Michael
42
St. Theresa
64
Corpus Christi
81
Total
491
Note: 491 students fills St. Francis to approximately 88% capacity.
Some alternatives for discussion are:
1.
Implement the boundaries as originally proposed in the Director of Education’s Report to
the Board of Trustees South/Central Planning Area, from the March 24, 2009 Board
Meeting, therefore eliminating the grandfathering of current students who are outside the
Holy Cross boundary. This would populate Holy Cross at approximately 272 students
(capacity 350) and St. Francis at approximately 491 (capacity 560). Included in these
numbers are the projected JK registrations as well as the projected external registrations.
This would populate Holy Cross at approximately 80% capacity and St. Francis at 88%
capacity allowing for classroom space for new registrations and growth in both buildings.
2.
Accept all students who are within the new Holy Cross boundary. Conduct a lottery
system that gives those remaining that are not within the boundary a possible opportunity
of attending Holy Cross - put a ceiling on successful candidates. In doing this, there
would be no room for external registrations within the Holy Cross boundary. An
alternative would be to transport those students who are interesting in attending Holy
Cross to St. Francis as out of boundary students for St. Francis.
”SCHOOLS TO BELIEVE IN”
3. Transfer all current French Immersion students from St. Theresa to St. Francis and build
the French Immersion Program starting in year 1 with JK/SK at Holy Cross. This would
populate Holy Cross with approximately 296 students allowing for the 40 projected JK
registrations as well as new registrations and room to build the French Immersion
Program as the out of boundary students slowly move through the grades and eventually
go to the St. Benedict addition. St. Francis would then have approximately 467 students
allowing for new JK registrations. A factor to consider would be that the JK French
Immersion teacher would be on their own with no other FI teacher to collaborate with.
4.
Have St. Theresa remain open for one additional year and move St. Christopher and the
current students wanting to attend from Corpus Christi to Holy Cross (no consideration to
0-3 years siblings). This would populate Holy Cross with approximately 296 students
September 2011 and once the grade 6 students leave in June, there would be 241
students. St. Theresa would move in September 2012. The draw back would be that St.
Francis would be populated with approximately 222 students with a capacity of 560. The
numbers would be very similar if Corpus Christi were to remain open instead of St.
Theresa.
5.
Make Holy Cross JK-3 for the first 2-3 years. St. Francis would then take the grades 4, 5
and 6. The draw back would be families with a child in grade 2 and one in grade 5 being
in two different schools. This would be of concern for the parents of St. Christopher who
were not given an option of attending any other school other than Holy Cross.
6.
Consider adding portables at Holy Cross. This option increases the costs to the Board
and causes St. Francis to have vacant classrooms.
7.
Consider Corpus Christi remaining open for an additional year. This school is one of the
PTR (Prohibitive to Repair) schools and would also cause significant teacher staffing
issues for this planning area. St. Francis will also have vacant classrooms.
Considering the implications of the proposed options above, it is recommended to Trustees to
support Option #1 as it the most transparent, fiscally responsible, equitable for all students
impacted and honours the vision of the two dual track JK-6 schools for the south end.
Additional Considerations:
1. With flexible boundaries, transportation costs will increase tremendously as out of boundary
students need to be transported. Time on the bus also needs to be taken into consideration.
2. All scenarios are considering current students only and not non-school age siblings. The
siblings will default to their boundary school as it is impossible to project siblings (both nonschool age or those who have not been born yet).
3. Ultimately, decisions need to be made keeping students’ best interests in mind and creating
positive and viable learning communities for both St. Francis and Holy Cross Catholic Schools.
”SCHOOLS TO BELIEVE IN”
Construction Update
1) St Benedict CSS Addition
Construction is on schedule and the school will be ready to receive all Grade 7 and 8 students
from the South/Central planning area for September 1st, 2011.
2) St Francis School Renovations
Phase 2 of the construction process is on schedule and the school will be ready to receive the
students from St. Michael School and new students within the new attendance boundary for
September 1st, 2011.
3) Holy Cross
The tender for the foundations for Holy Cross Catholic School was awarded at the regular Board
meeting dated August 5th, 2010.
The construction schedule established a foundation completion date of October 1st, 2010.
Further to regular on-site visits and inspections by Denis Faucher and Yallowega Belanger
Architects, several meetings were held with the contractor during the months of September and
October as the contractor was not adhering to the foundation construction schedule.
The contractor was advised that the delays in the foundation work would cause a delay in the
school construction schedule therefore jeopardizing the school opening date of September 1st,
2011.
Additional meetings were held during November, and a revised foundation construction schedule
was developed. The contractor again did not adhere to the revised schedule.
Further to discussions with the Superintendent of Business, our solicitor and the Manager of
Facilities, the architect Yallowega Belanger removed the work from the contractor on November
25th, 2010 and transferred the remaining portion of the uncompleted foundation work to the
contractor who had successfully been awarded the tender for the school construction. Therefore
a single contractor has the remaining foundation work and the school construction tender.
Given the above delays, Holy Cross Catholic School will not be completed for occupancy by
August 2011.
Administration is currently developing a contingency plan to be presented at the February Board
meeting.
”SCHOOLS TO BELIEVE IN”
APPENDIX "A"
APPENDIX "B"