Upper Canada District School Board votes to close 12 school sites

The Upper Canada District School Board has voted to close 12 school sites across Eastern Ontario.

The vote was the culmination of a months-long public consultation process that often became feisty and emotional as communities fought to save their schools.

Like many boards across Ontario, UCDSB is dealing with declining enrollment. Originally, staff came forward with a recommendation to close as many as 29 schools. That list was reduced to 12 in a final report last month.

As per that report, 5 schools will close effective September, 2017. They are Plantagenet P.S., Rothwell-Osnabruck School, Benson P.S., Rideau Centennial E.S., and S.J. McLeod P.S.

Another 3 schools are slated to close by September 2018 including Prince Of Wales P.S., Wolford P.S., and Oxford-on-Rideau P.S.

Other schools have a yet-to-be-determined closing date, pending Ministry approval to expand schools elsewhere or rebuild. They include North Stormont P.S. and Maynard P.S. In Brockville. Toniata P.S. and Commonwealth P.S. will be combined into one new school to be built on one of the two sites. The same goes for St. Lawrence S.S. and Cornwall Collegiate and VS in Cornwall, again pending Ministry approval.

The UCDCB has said it is dealing with around 10,000 empty spaces across its district. That is the equivalent of 30 medium-sized elementary schools.

The final report to the Board, and how board members voted, can be found here.