Woodstock parents fret over Grade 7, 8 kids attending class at high school

WOODSTOCK – Parents are pushing back on a proposal that would see Grade 7 and 8 students from three Catholic elementary schools here attend classes at a local high school starting next fall.

More than 100 people attended a Tuesday night meeting with London District Catholic school board officials to discuss the possibility that roughly 225 kids would start learning at St. Mary’s Catholic High School, an effort to ease local elementary-school overcrowding.

“I just don’t want my son mingling with older kids,” said Kelly Gardiner, whose son will be in Grade 8 next year. “I don’t want him getting involved with substances, all that stuff. There’s more drama, more conflict and he’ll just run into problems a lot sooner.”

Another parent, Sarah Hamulecki, expressed similar worries. “I’m sure most of the parents are concerned about having Grade 7s and 8s exposed to the things that high schoolers are exposed to.”

Under the proposal, students who would have been attending Grade 7 and Grade 8 at Holy Family French Immersion, St. Michael’s and St. Patrick’s in Woodstock will instead shift to the city’s Catholic high school beginning in the 2024-25 school year.

Debbie Jordan, a Catholic board superintendent, took questions but couldn’t answer all of them, noting the proposal is in its infancy. The board hasn’t yet explored how things like sports, transportation and differing school hours would be handled.

Tuesday night’s meeting was intended to get community feedback and there’s been no decision, Jordan said.

Woodstock is a fast-growing community, and Catholic elementary schools are already at capacity limits, Jordan said. The introduction of the Grade 7 and Grade 8 students would also help fill up the high school.

Bill Tucker is a former school board director who’s now a Western University education professor. While unfamiliar with the Woodstock proposal, he said generally boards must ensure existing classrooms are full before Queen’s Park will approve any new school construction.

“The school board has to show the ministry that they’re maximizing school space for their business case,” Tucker said.

The Catholic board made a successful pitch to the province last month. Regina Mundi, a Catholic high school in south London, is being torn down and rebuilt at a cost of $51 million.

Jordan said the Catholic board has been conducting an online survey to collect feedback from parents and community members in Woodstock, which will be open until Nov. 24, and results of the survey will be released on Dec. 4.

Community feedback from the meeting will also be considered in the board’s decision.

The Woodstock community isn’t alone in their concerns. A similar proposal also received backlash from parents in a nearby community.

A boundary review in Paris, about a half-hour east of Woodstock, also had the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District school board consider sending Grade 7 and 8 students to a high school.

Board officials were looking to ease overcrowding with the move, but parents were overwhelmingly opposed. The board’s chair, Rick Petrella, said they’ve scrapped the proposal.

Petrella said it wasn’t necessarily due to pushback from parents, but the board felt the move “wasn’t an appropriate course of action.”

Brian Williams, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, London Free Press