The first public input meeting will be held Thursday October 10, 2013 6 to 9 p.m. at Hillcrest Elementary School (40 Eastwood St., Hamilton)
In preparation for the public meetings, of which there will be four, the East Hamilton closure committee will meet this Thursday evening from 6 to 9 p.m. at Hillcrest for a working group meeting.
They will prepare materials for public presentation the following week. The working group meetings are open to the public to observe.
One or Two Elementary Schools to Close
The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board has too few students for the number of elementary schools and needs to eliminate 1300 student spaces in ten years.
Provincial policy does not allow the School Board to have excess space and there are penalties for Boards that fail to close school.
Desired enrolment at each elementary school is “between 500 and 600 students, which creates two to three classes for each grade.”
To meet provincial policy, the Board is planning to close one or two East Hamilton schools in 2015 or 2016.
School Closure Committees
Instead of using the word closure to describe the process, the HWDSB uses an euphemism and called the process an “Accommodation Review” and forms “Accommodation Review Committees” or ARCs to decide which schools are closed.
The size of the East Hamilton committee is 21 people – three from each school. Each school gets a parent council representative, a non-parent council representative and a teaching or non-teaching representative.
Report due between January 27 and February 24, decision this Spring
The closure committee will present its recommendation to the School Board’s Director of Education between January 27 and February 24 with the Board’s decision to follow closely thereafter.
East Hamilton HWDSB website
The HWDSB provides background on the schools and closure process for East Hamilton. The Board will post all documents on this webpage as well.
Bookmark it: http://www.hwdsb.on.ca/elementaryarc/east-hamilton-city-area-1/
Coverage of Closure Process
I’ve committed to you that I will cover the process, including livestreaming the final public meetings. For more on this committment, please read “Coverage of HWDSB School Closures Process: My Committment to You“.
Feature Photo: Viscount Montgomery, the famous WWII field marshal, personally opened Viscount Montgomery School. (Credit: HPL Special Collections)