Stratford Area Boundary Review Now in the Hands of Trustees

by Bob Montgomery

The Superintendent of Corporate Services for the Avon Maitland District School Board says the Stratford Area Boundary Review is now in the hands of the board's trustees.

Cheri Carter says at this point trustees are gathering information and accepting delegations from the community which allows a member of the community to delegate to the board through a formal process to express their concerns or ask questions. “So we have a special board meeting on Tuesday, May 7th in Stratford to hear delegations and the trustees will review the information they get from that meeting.” Carter says the trustees are required to announce a decision by the end of June.

The boundary is being shifted to balance out the schools in the Stratford area that are currently over-crowded with the schools that have excess space. Carter points out, as a percentage of students within the entire board, the change doesn't impact a huge number of students, but for each family and the students likely to be affected by the change in the boundary, it's a very significant change. Carter says the options being considered could move anywhere from 112 students to as many as 300 students, so that may not be a lot of students from a system perspective but from a single school perspective it's significant.

That special board meeting is on Tuesday, May 7th and anyone who would like to present a delegation is asked to contact Barb Crawford (barb.crawford@ed.amdsb.ca). She will outline the details and make arrangements. The meeting is being held at the Stratford Intermediate School Pathways Innovation Centre on the third floor. More information can be found on the Avon Maitland website.