| Jun 30, 2016


A report by the consulting group Ameresco, which was received by the board of trustees of the Limestone District School Board (LDSB) last month, recommends the closure of at least two elementary schools in Frontenac County over the next 10 years. The process for closing Prince Charles Public School in Verona is projected to begin in three years, and the process for closing Land O'Lakes Public School in Mountain Grove is projected to get underway in seven years. 

The report also recommends that community partners be sought to help cover costs for facilities that will remain open but will be under capacity, such as North Addington Education Centre in Cloyne, and Granite Ridge Education Centre in Sharbot Lake.

None of the report’s recommendations have been formally adopted or even considered by the LDSB board of trustees.

The report, titled “LDSP Long Term Accommodation Plan” was commissioned by the board in response to provincial directives that, in the words of the report, “require 100% utilization of schools, board-wide, year-over-year, in order to ensure that facility renewal and school operation costs (i.e. cost to heat, light and clean) are met”.

Based on enrolment projections, the report concludes that within 15 years there will be excess capacity for 2,787 elementary students and 1,540 secondary students in the entire Limestone Board if changes are not made. The Limestone Board currently operates 53 elementary and 11 secondary schools in the City of Kingston, and in Frontenac and Lennox and Addington counties.

While the first section of the report sets out series of facts and provincial policies, the second section, “Proposed Long Term Accommodation Plan by Family of Schools”, offers recommendations to accomplish 100% utilization by making changes in just about every corner of the board's reach.

Jane Douglas, communications director for the LDSB, said that a staff report to the trustees on the recommendations is expected in the fall, and consultations with the school communities and the public at large will take place before any decisions are made to adopt its recommendations. “What's important is to ensure there is a large district-wide review before any steps are taken,” she said. “In the rural area there is a great need to bring together possibilities. There is lots of potential for partnerships with municipalities and community groups and agencies to deal with some of the surplus capacity,” she said

South Frontenac Township is covered for the most part by the Sydenham High School (SHS) Family of Schools. In the Sydenham family, Prince Charles in Verona is already under the 80% utilization threshold that is considered a minimum for continued operation of a school.

In 2016-17, the projected enrolment of 182 students Prince Charles is 69% of the school’s capacity of 265 students. The projections going forward to 2030 call for only a very slight decrease, to 177. However, the capacity of Loughborough Public School is 549, and it has a 2016-17 enrolment of 422 (77% of capacity), which is projected to drop to 314 by 2030 (only 57% of capacity).

Therefore the report recommends that a Program Accommodation Review (PAR) process be undertaken in the 2019-2020 school year “with a view to consolidate Prince Charles PS into Loughborough PS.”

Harrowsmith Public School is projected to remain over capacity (105%) over the next 15 years.

In order to deal with projected decrease in enrolment at Sydenham High School from the current 719 (94% 0f capacity) to 569 (74% of capacity) by 2030, the report recommends diverting students from the portion of rural Kingston north of Hwy. 401 from their current schools to Sydenham.

As far as the Granite Ridge Education Centre Family of Schools is concerned, the report points out first that all three schools in the family (Granite Ridge, Land O'Lakes and Clarendon Central) are well below the 80% threshold, and will continue to drop over time.

By 2030, it sees the elementary panel at only 51% of capacity at both Granite Ridge (142 students) and Land O'Lakes (107 students). By putting the two schools together, the projected enrolment would be 268, which is still only 77% of capacity.

Even though the report does not talk about closing Clarendon Central in Plevna, it allocates the projected enrolment for Clarendon Central to Granite Ridge by 2030.

The report recommends that a PAR process for the Granite Ridge Family of Schools be established in 2023/23 “with a view to consolidate Land O’Lakes PS into Granite Ridge Education Centre”

As far as North Addington Education Centre is concerned, the report says that the school, which has the capacity for 305 elementary and 327 secondary students, is already well under capacity, particularly in the secondary panel where there are only 106 students, and will continue to see enrolment decreases over the next 15 years.

The report does not recommend closing NAEC, however, because of its location, but says the board might consider “converting two classrooms into a community hub/technology centre” in the short term, and in the longer term look at exploring “with the Ministry of Health the possibility of converting un-used space into a long-term care facility”.

Suzanne Ruttan, the school board trustee for South Frontenac, appeared before South Frontenac Council on Tuesday evening to talk about the Ameresco report, along with Paul Babbin, the superintendent of building services for the Limestone Board.

He said that in early September there will be a meeting that will be open to the public to discuss next steps in the process.

Mayor Ron Vandewal did not accept did not accept the inevitable closure of Prince Charles Public School.

“The surest way to kill a community is to close its school,” he said.

When contacted, Karen McGregor, the board trustee for Central and North Frontenac and Addington Highlands, said that it is too early to talk about school closings and re-purposing since the report was just received last month. “It includes a lot of information for us to consider,” she said.

The Ameresco report also calls for the closure of Glenburnie Public School but does not see any changes at Storrington or Perth Road Public Schools. The report includes projected financial savings over time if its recommendations are implemented.

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