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Review proposes that French Immersion start at new school in Rockwood

MEDIA RELEASE

For Immediate Release
January 10, 2014

GUELPH, Ontario – The third and final report of the New Rockwood Elementary School Boundary Review has been posted to the Upper Grand District School Board website at www.ugdsb.ca/rbr. 

The document will be presented to the Business Operations Committee on January 14. Trustees will make a final decision at the Board Meeting on January 28.

The review started in September, with a goal of establishing an attendance area boundary for a new 308-pupil place elementary school under construction on MacLennan Street in Rockwood. A secondary goal was to establish the location and boundaries for a new French Immersion (FI) program.

The final report’s two key recommendations are:

A set of maps appended to the report show the proposed attendance areas.

The proposed FI boundary roughly follows (clockwise) Jones Baseline, Wellington Road 22, Wellington Road 26, and Highway 7 continuing along the Eramosa-Milton Townline to include Eden Mills.

The RT attendance area for the new school would be the residential streets in the south end of the village of Rockwood, south of Harris Street.

The board intends to launch the FI program in Rockwood with grades JK to 1, growing the program year-by-year. Looking far ahead, the report recommends that the Rockwood FI students graduate to John F. Ross CVI, but notes that it will be 2022 before the first students graduate into Grade 9. In the intervening years the board may conduct a review of secondary accommodation.

Construction of the new elementary school in Rockwood began in November, following the lengthy process of acquiring the site and the necessary permits and approvals. It is one of four new schools the board planned to open in September 2014, largely due to enrolment pressures created by Full Day Kindergarten (FDK).

It is expected that the two new schools in Guelph and a third in Orangeville will be ready for September, but the late start at the Rockwood site – complicated by severe winter weather – has prompted the board to create a contingency plan in the event the building is not ready for the first day of school.

“I know our Capital Projects team and the construction company will be working flat out towards that September target,” said Superintendent Bonnie Talbot, “but parents should know that even if the facility is delayed, we will still have a school in every other sense of the word.”

The board has appointed Carrie Conrad as principal of the new school effective this September. She is currently the principal of Brisbane PS, a JK-6 DT school.

“The new school’s classrooms and teachers will be organized exactly as they should be,” said Talbot. “If it is necessary to hold the school in temporary accommodations, we will make every effort to create a productive and comfortable learning environment, and minimize any disruption.”

Under the contingency plan students enrolled in the new school would be temporarily located at Rockwood Centennial PS, using some rooms inside the school building as well as two additional portables.

Public input to the staff boundary review committee closed on December 18, to allow time for the writing of the final report. Members of the public are still welcome to make presentations to trustees at upcoming meetings on January 21 and 28, after pre-registering as a delegation. Details are on the board website.

The board is welcoming suggestions for the names of all of the new schools. Ideas can be submitted online at www.ugdsb.ca/name.

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For more information: 

Maggie McFadzen, Communications Officer
519-822-4420 ext.725
[email protected]  

Mark Weidmark, Administrative Officer – Communications
519-822-4420 ext.544
[email protected]
 

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