Board fine-tunes Ward 4 boundary changes By Tina Depko OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF 5 · OAKVILLE BEAVER Saturday, April 18, 2009 The Halton District School Board has finalized the details of how it will address accommodation issues in Ward 4 Oakville, with two decisions, in particular, that will likely bring smiles to some Ecole Forest Trail parents. Six recommendations were passed Wednesday night, covering such issues as school boundary changes, optional attendance, and the budget for French learning resources at Lorne Skuce Public School, which will serve as an incubator for junior students in 2009 who are destined for Palermo School in fall 2010. Trustees also passed a new recommendation that gives students living within 1.6 kilometres of Ecole Forest Trail Public School the option to attend that school. This issue was initially a source of contention, as the preferred boundary model originally had some students living west of Third Line within a 1.6 km distance, which is the board's designated walk-to distance, bussed to another school. Another recommendation amended a previously adopted motion. This amendment means that students with older siblings, who continue at Ecole Forest Trail Public School, will be grandfathered and their entitlement to transportation will be continued for a five-year period, effective September 2009-2014. The board also approved the new boundaries for the Ward 4 elementary schools, which will be implemented for the 2009-10 school year. The preferred option, which is labelled as number 2 of the four alternatives produced by board staff, was approved by trustees. To view maps of this option, visit the board's website at www.hdsb.ca. A major reason option number 2 was favoured is because board staff anticipate these boundaries will ensure Palermo School, slated to welcome students in September 2010, will open with a utilization rate of more than 80 per cent. This number is expected to increase over time as enrolments increase within the school's catchment's area, both in terms of the English track and French immersion students. Another recommendation passed Wednesday night is that optional attendance will be permitted at Abbey Lane and Pilgrim Wood public schools starting in the 2009-10 school year and Heritage Glen Public School beginning in the 2010-11 school year. This will give parents with children in crowded schools north of Upper Middle Road the option of enrolling them in these underuti- lized facilities. Trustees had previously approved a recommendation that would see students living north of Upper Middle Road attending crowded schools bussed to lower-populated schools south of that road. Trustees voted Wednesday night in favour of deferring this recommendation so the issue could be looked at in a larger context in the coming months, with Burlington and Oakville schools affected by the north-south split at Upper Middle Road examined. Trustees also approved a recommendation that a budget of $90,000 be set aside for the purchase of library and curricular materials for the French immersion program at Lorne Skuce Public School. A corresponding recommendation also passed that staff bring forward a report to the board in Sept. 2009 on what was purchased with that money. Parfeniuk clarified that students in the Core French program will be able to use those materials once the dual-track Palermo School opens. He also said that the $90,000 French materials budget is part of a larger estimated $300,000 budget that will be used for library and classroom resources for both English and French programming at the new school. 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