Parents of students at St. Agatha Catholic Elementary School say they’re concerned boundary changes could ultimately spell doom for their school.
Students in the new Clair Hills subdivision off Wilmot Line had been slated to attend St. Agatha, but a recent change by the Waterloo Catholic District School Board has those students heading to St. Nicholas Catholic Elementary School in northwest Waterloo instead.
Parents and former students took their case to the school board Monday night, saying sending Clair Hills students elsewhere will mean lower enrollment at St. Agatha and make an eventual closure of that school more likely.
St. Agatha school council chair Cathy Mallick says the problem is compounded by the decision being made behind closed doors, without input from the public or even the board’s elected trustees.
“We’re concerned about transparency and the board being able to make decisions that have such a wide impact without public consultation, without even trustee involvement,” she said.
“Closing that school will scatter all of the students. They’ll all be going in different directions, friendships broken.”
Trustees agreed with Mallick and the other delegations, and the board now plans to gather public input in advance of making a final decision on the boundary issue April 2.
“They’re correct, and that’s why we … gave parents the opportunity to come out and present us with additional information,” board chair Wayne Buchholtz told CTV.
Buchholtz says provincial rules are making it difficult to keep small schools in rural communities open, but parents like Carl Hauck say there’s significant advantages to smaller schools like St. Agatha.
“Everybody knows everybody, nobody gets away with anything. It’s just a different style of life than what we get living in the urban areas,” he said.
