LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...Board should revise school boundaries

Dear editor, I am pleased with the Halton School Board's recommendations to renovate the existing building of Georgetown District High School. GDHS is a good school in our community. It provides a number of quality programs to its students including the new International Baccalaureate Programme. The current boundaries, however, prevent Georgetown/Halton Hills residents from attending this school. Instead, our children are bused to Milton. There are several problems with this: Milton District High School is twice as far away. It makes no sense to bus our students so far away. It must be less expensive to provide busing to GDHS. We live, vote and fund services in Georgetown. We shop in Georgetown; our families participate in social and sporting activities in Georgetown. Schools are an integral part of our community, and our students should remain in our community. After-school activities require that we pick up our students. Again, it makes no sense to have to drive to Milton to pick up our kids. Now more than ever, it is important for the board to consider changing the boundaries to include in Georgetown all of its residents in its school district. Some of Georgetown's longest standing residents live in the rural areas. These people attended GDHS, have remained in the area and want to send their children there. The current boundaries seem outdated. It should seriously be considered that we increase the GDHS boundaries to include students from south of 10 Sideroad up to the north side of Steeles Ave. At this time when the Halton Board is looking for input from the community on future growth plans, I urge all rural residents to make themselves heard. Karen LaFlair-Patjas, Halton Hills