Norwell District Secondary School is once again the only high school in the Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) that is underutilized, according to the “Secondary Identified Schools” report presented to the board at the May 24 board meeting.
The projected utilization rate for Norwell in the 2016-17 school year is 67.2 per cent. This would be the fourth year the school has had more than 200 empty student spaces.
“Elementary enrolment decline that has occurred in rural areas of the jurisdiction is having an impact on secondary enrolments,” the report states.
“It may be appropriate for staff to review the potential for partnership opportunities at Norwell DSS in the fall of 2016.”
Norwell is projected to remain underutilized until 2020 with utilization rates staying in the mid to high 60% rate.
The annual “Secondary Identified Schools” report compares projected enrolment figures based on full-time equivalent staffing projections for the coming school year with the school’s actual student capacity.
The schools are then identified as overcapacity, underutilized or neither, for the coming school year.
All secondary schools in Wellington County, with the exception of Norwell and Centre Peel Secondary School, are neither overcrowded nor underutilized.
The report states that Centre Peel is not included in overall totals for the school board because it is a small program and is accommodated with Centre Peel Public School. The utilization rate at the school is 261.9%.
Centre Wellington District High School has an estimated population of 83.1%, Erin District High School has an estimated population of 95.7% and Wellington Heights Secondary School has an estimated population of 82.9%.
In addition to the information provided in previous years, in 2016-17 projections were expanded to estimate school utilization for the next five years.
In the five-year projections both Norwell and Wellington Heights are projected to be underutilized by 2020 while Centre Wellington and Erin are projected to remain neither overcrowded nor underutilized.
