Ontario schools squeezed for full-day kindergarten space
April 25, 2011
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Kristin Rushowy
EDUCATION REPORTER
Elementary schools struggling to accommodate full-day kindergarten classes could push Grades 7 and 8 students into local high schools that have space, Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky has acknowledged after the issue was raised by a Conservative MPP.
Dombrowsky noted some boards are already moving the younger students into high schools for other reasons — mostly because of declining enrolment.
But she said she has heard of boards considering such a move to accommodate the full-day program. While that “may be the case,” she added, it is a local decision that will be made “with the best interests of students at heart.”
Some boards have also said they will need additional portables to accommodate the kindergarten students all day.
The province has pledged $450 million in capital dollars — for renovations and additions — to schools for full-day kindergarten for the first three years. The amount for the final two years — the schools with the greatest need for space — is unknown.
MPP Elizabeth Witmer, Conservative education critic and a former education minister, said she is aware of boards looking to move Grades 7 and 8 students.
“The biggest problem is going to be how you accommodate these final two years where you are going to have some real challenges,” she said.
In the past, she recalled one school that moved Grades 7 and 8, although for other reasons. “I know that parents originally were very concerned and upset about the exposure of their children to these older kids,” but in the end, things worked out fine.
“At the end of the day, you need to take a look at the ones that have already been created in the province, have there been problems? Have some of the concerns materialized? I don’t have any information that would lead me to say if it’s a good idea or a bad idea.”
However, she said it is another example of the government’s poor rollout on the program, and noted some boards are already falling short on funds to simply run the full-day program.
Catherine Fife of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association said the Upper Canada public board was already moving toward a Grade 7 to 12 model over the next two years, “so it isn’t unusual for boards to be making complex and difficult decisions” around student accommodation.
She said boards need some answers on funding for additions and renovations by this June “so they are able to plan strategies and yes, be creative around school configuration” for full-day.
“This can be done well,” she added. “We can have this conversation like adults. At the end of the day, ensuring that more children have access to enhanced kindergarten programming will benefit the system going forward.”
She acknowledged such moves are not happening for instructional and learning reasons, “but around making the best use of facilities.”
Fife also said it is time the federal government started putting in funds for school buildings, as they do for universities.
While research supports fewer school changes for students as best, Annie Kidder of People for Education said benefits have been found in both the kindergarten to Grade 8 model, as well as a Grades 7 to 12 one.
Dombrowsky acknowledged that there may be parents “for whom (a Grades 7 to 12 model) is something that they may not be tremendously happy about.”