With school conditions deteriorating and enrollment levels still decreasing, Catholic board officials believe changes are imminent.
The St. Clair Catholic District School Board's long-term capital plan highlights steady funding issues with the Ministry of Education, as well as the decrease in population the region has been feeling lately. In fact, the population of school-aged children in Chatham-Kent and Lambton County decreased by 12% between 2006 and 2011.
"Our board, and in fact [the public board] are leveling off in terms of our enrollment declines, but they're leveling off at a lower rate than they were a few years ago," says Director of Education Dan Parr. "That's just a function of the changing demographics in our area."
The SCCDSB's 28 schools (26 elementary, two secondary) have a capacity around 83%, which Parr says is reasonable compared to the provincial average. But since amalgamation, the number of schools in the Catholic system has been reduced from 38.
A glaring issue the board faces is that it simply has too many elementary schools in Chatham (seven to be exact). Georges P. Vanier is the only Catholic elementary school expected to meet or exceed capacity in the next ten years. At the other end of the spectrum St. Agnes' capacity is forecasted to dip from 58% to 36% by 2025, while St. Joseph's is expected to hover around 52% capacity over the next ten years.
Among the proposed actions made by board officials, is an accommodation review process for the Chatham schools, which could include reducing the number of schools from seven to four. Parr hopes parents understand adjustments need to be made to facilitate programming.
"Our facilities will need $60-million in upgrades... we've got about 17% excess space in our schools. It doesn't make any sense to proceed without making changes," explains Parr.
Parr stressed no accommodation reviews or closures have been approved yet. Trustees will analyze the plan leading up to the start of the next school year, voting on recommendations along the way.
