To deal with capacity concerns at Central Public School, the Upper Grand District School Board will place an enrolment cap of 12 classrooms for the 2025/2026 school year.
The decision was made at the UGDSB board meeting June 25.
In November, the board decided there would be no boundary review of the school and it would remain status quo until parents were consulted and a report was developed.
The report outlined three accommodation options for the school; to utilize portables, place an enrolment cap and conduct a boundary review.
Central, at 97 Dublin St., is a Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6 school with a capacity of 274 students. The enrolment for the 2023/2024 school year was 285 students. The school has a portable to provide temporary accommodation.
For the next school year the school is not expected to exceed 11 classrooms.
If the school is capped at 12 classes and enrolment exceeds the cap families would be notified that students will go to Willow Road Public School and be given transportation if eligible. Siblings would be prioritized in this instance. Siblings of students affected by the cap would be given the option to continue at Central or move to Willow.
It was also recommended a form be given to families of new registered students notifying them of the cap and the possibility they could be moved to Willow.
Staff recommended the enrolment cap be placed for the 2025/2026 school year. The projected enrolment for the school year according to UGDSB’s Long-Term Accommodation Plan is 300. The projected enrolment for the 2030/2031 school year is 355.
Nick Walters, parent of a Central school student delegated at the June 25 board meeting.
“First off, it doesn’t surprise me that I’m the only one here delegating tonight on this because everybody else who is impacted by this enrolment process doesn’t know about it yet. They either don’t have kids who are old enough to go to Central yet, or they don’t live in the area yet. That’s not equitable,” said Walters.
He didn’t want the board to approve the enrolment cap process for the school. This isn’t to say he doesn’t support the process but he thinks the board needs more information about the cap and how it may impact future families of the school.
There was community consultation with a public information session regarding Central in November. It was attended mostly by parents and guardians of students of the school, noted in the report.
The enrolment cap makes sense since the school can’t accommodate 75 extra students, he said. He wants there to be more transparency around the process for students not currently enrolled at Central.
There were no questions for Walters and no discussion about the recommendations from the board.
All recommendations were approved by the board.
