PAGE 16, WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16,1987 Whitby schools grapple with enrolment changes FROM PAGE 1 teachers on staff. While this year's enrolment of 1,300 students is up slightly from last year, Burch says the school was expecting 1,400 students. He believes the decrease is at- tributed to new homes in the area which have closing dates of October and November. The two new portables will bring the school's total to six. Returning for his first full year as principal is Aaron Decker who has requested expansion of the school's gym, library and parking lot. Burch says at the present time, there are only 20 student parking sports available, causing many students to park on the road. At the new Pringle Creek Public School, principal Ron Coward says the gym floor remains to be in- stalled. There are 535 students Enrolment up 130 at St. Paul With an increase of 130 students over last year's enrolment St. Paul's separate school will be using all 15 portables that have been at the school since last year. "We didn't use all of them last year but we are using all of them now," says new principal Aime Rousseau, who came from St. Theresa's. Enrolment at the school currently stands at 827 students up from last year's 697. The school is also playing host to students from nine other schools in the area who are using the newly built industrial arts classes at the school. Besides the new principal, St. Paul's also began this year with 12 new teachersc A new principal and vice- principal are at St. Theresa's where enrolment has increased to SEE PAGE 22 enrolled - 40 more than expected. The school has five portables but Coward says a reorganization will have to take place to add another teacher. Coward is the former principal at West Lynde Public School, a school with nine portables where enrolment now sfands at about 750, down from last year. Phil Long, who has spent the past two years in Germany, is the new prin- cipal at West Lynde while Al Ker- shaw is the new vice principal. Twelve new teachers and a new assistant secretary are on staff. Three Whitby public schools are also accommodating the students for the Bellwood school now under construction and slated to open in February. R.A. Hutchison has 40 Bellwood kindergarten students to go along with its normal enrolment of 183. That's down from last year's 250 when the school took the overflow from other parts of Whitby in- cluding students for Pringle Creek. There are no portables at the school. Bob Kennington will be leaving as Hutchison principal next month for Lord Elgin. He will be suc- ceeded by Alf Plummer, from. an Oshawa school. There are also two new staff members with the depar- ture of three from last year's staff. E.A. Fairman, no longer the French immersion school, has 114 Gr. 4, 5 and 6 Bellwood students to go along with its kindergarten to Gr. 8 enrolment of 383. Kevin Hughes, vice principal at Farewell for the past two years, is the new principal of the school which has two portables. Robert Thornton Public School has il portables, eight of them for the Gr. 1, 2 and 3 Bellwood students it accommodates. The school's enrolment apart from those studen- ts is 594, a drop of about 200 from last year when Thornton because of Bellwood. That enrolment also includes 185 Gr. 7 and 8 students. Those grades will be gradually phased out at the school, says principal John Hinch, LEASE TO OWN Ail Makes, Auto Leasing Chrysler, GM, Ford, Imports You name it We lease it You'IlI our rates! wHITBY 209 Dundas St. W. DHDODGER- Whitby CHYSE Ajax 686-1642 who welcomes one new teacher af- ter losing six. Last year's Whitby Senior School, now Leslie McFarlane Public School with new principal Tom Park, has 590 students including those who attended F.M. Heard last year and Gr. 7 and students from R.A. Sennett and Hutchison. "What Pringle Creek hasn't got, we have," says Park, noting that the school's boundaries includes all students east of Highway 12 to Gar- den St. He says renovations are con- tinuing at the school, including hydro hook-up of seven portables, but "I'm very pleased with the way things are going." The school has 35 on staff, in- cluding 18 new teachers and the remainder from the former senior school. F.M. Heard, the new French im- mersion school, has 350 students. Principal Pat Prentice remains at the school and one staff member from last year, with the remaining staff all coming with the students from Fairman. R.A. Sennett, with principal Joan Walkey in her third year, has 192 students, about the same as last year, and two new teachers. Sen- nett has no portables. Kathleen Rowe, with three por- tables, has 300 students, down 10 from last year. Principal Paul Ed- mondson welcomes five new faces on staff. Colonel Farewell has 575 studen- ts, one more than last year, for new principal Roger Lappin and vice principal Doug Taylor. At Meadowerest, in Brooklin, 367 students represent little change in enrolment from last year for prin- cipal Gordon MacLean. The school, with two portables, has three new faces on staff. Parents want Thornton bus route restored Parents in the Canadian Oaks Dr. area of town were surprised last week when a school bus, which for the past four years had taken their kids to Robert Thornton public school, didn't stop. "It stopped on the first day of school," said Terry Murcott, but the bus did not stop on the second and has not stopped at the cornerof Canadian Oaks and Rossland Rd. since then. "We know we are not entitled to a bus," said Murcott, adding the parents are more upset they were not informed of the change. The Durham Board of Education does not provide bussing in built-up urban areas, said Manager of Transportation for the board, Jack Upton. However, the bus had been stop- ping at. the corner for the past four years. "They were using a bus route that wasn't their's. If we do not know they are using it, it is difficult for us to inform them of the change," said Upton. However, Turcott said the paren- ts should have been informed even if by pinning a note to the students on the first day of school. Upton was to meet with represen- tatives of the parents today, (Wed- nesday) to try and work out a solution. "All I can do is apologize and listen to them," said Upton. Even though they are not en- titled, under board policy, to a bus, Turcott said the parents will ask for one. SIGN AT Immanuel Christian School on this year and transportation will be Rossland Rd. in Oshawa. The school will provided, for the first time, to students. include eight religious denominations Free Press photo 1 -1