CORNWALL, Ontario – The Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario (CDSBEO) staff is proposing to close three cornwall schools in their final Pupil Accommodation Review report to their trustees for their May 2 meeting.
The report proposes that Immaculate Conception Catholic School, St. Columban’s Catholic School and Sacred Heart Catholic school all be closed between June 30, 2018 and June 30, 2019.
Students from Immaculate Conception would be sent to Bishop Macdonell and St. Peter’s and that St. Columbans and Sacred Heart be combined into one Sacred Heart school in a new building possibly at a new location.
The plan also proposes that all remaining elementary schools become Jk-to Grade 6 schools and that 7-8 students be sent to St. Joseph Catholic Secondary School. The report states that an addition to St. Joe’s may have to be added in order to accommodate all incoming 7 & 8 students.
The report suggests that changes be made to the high school and elementary school boundries, so some students at schools not closing and who are not in Grade 7 & 8 might still get moved under this plan. Maps on the proposed boundary changes can be found here.
The final proposed suggestion in the report is that St. Matthew’s Catholic school be moved to a new, bigger location so that it too may accommodate grade 7 & 8 students from its feeder schools.
If followed through, the report’s recommendations would eliminate 697 empty spaces in the CSDBEO in Cornwall, which translates into a 97 percent utilization rate through to 2029.
The CDSBEO trustees will vote on this plan at their meeting on May 2.
