Changes to school boundaries upset parents, raise concerns among County Councillors

By Bailey Zimmer

Changes to the boundaries for schools in Paris have raised concerns not only from local parents, but Brant County Council as well.

On Feb 27, 2023, Grand Erie District School Board (GEDSB) Trustees approved school zone perimeter changes to take effect in Sept. 2023. This decision spanned over the course of eight meetings held by the school board between Oct. 11, 2022 and Jan. 18, 2023. The final 17-minute-long meeting on Jan 18, 2023, included members of the GEDSB and residents/caregivers/parents.

Brant County Council was not consulted during the process, a move that upset several councillors. If approached while mapping out the new boundaries, Council would have worked to make the alternative walking zones safe for students.

“I would like, if we can, to pass a motion that we as the County are involved in all changes of school boundaries so that we can deal with the non-educational parts of the changes that come about,” said Paris Councillor John Bell during the March 14th County Council meeting.

“I felt a little disappointed that the school board didn’t ask us or involve us more in making these decisions,” said Bell

The Board, according to the GEDSB website, will consider boundary changes when a new school opens, grades or programs change, or too many or too few students are in a school.

Depending on where students are located, some children will have to change schools due to the different zones. This will further affect their daily commute to school.

Some parents have spoken up about how they have been impacted by this decision and even launched a dedicated Facebook group to address concerns, and offer support to one another, regarding these changes.

Tamara Clark, mother of students in grade 2 and 4, is upset about the zone changes.

“Our wish as their parents were to have an opportunity to attend one school from JK to grade 8 With the new boundary review, this has now been stolen from them,” said Clark.

“Being pulled out of our school zone was a real punch to the gut,” said Clarke “Especially being told our 7 and 10 year olds would be expected to walk the 1.4 km unsafe walk.”

Another anonymous parent is worried about their child’s mental health

“Our children were finally having a normal school year and getting back on track. Now their lives are being disrupted and a major stressor is being added to their lives that parents have no control over,” said this parent.

“The Board has done nothing, I'm aware of, to provide more mental health supports to children moving, or even children who are upset about their friends moving away. Parents are being left on their own to figure out the majority of the impact of these moves,” they said.

According to Brant County’s Communication’s Specialist Lisa Henrique, as many as 75 students may be affected.

“I don’t know which population projections the school boards and the Ministry of Education are using, but they seem to have a backward approach to things,” said Ward 1 Councillor Jennifer Kyle

“They seem to be waiting for everything to implode before they do everything,” said Kyle.

Kyle further explains that before a school is built, the school board has to prove they have filled every space available at the institutions in use, which is part of the reason for moving the school zones and the students within

Some Council members are concerned about the safety of the children as they walk to school now that some will have to walk farther on roads with higher traffic volume

“We are having to react to a problem that’s actually affectively been created by the school board that we are now having to resolve,” said Bell.

Children must be living 1.6 kilometers or further away from the school area to be eligible to ride the bus. Residents closer and within this distance are told to walk to school or find another method of transportation

An area of concern for children walking to or from school is the Dumfries St crossing with Grand River St. South. Due to the volume of traffic and the lack of official crossing areas, this high-volume intersection is a dangerous area for pedestrians, especially young children

In the final board meeting, an attendee asked about the safety of this three-way intersection, to which recorded minutes of the meeting states, “All walking paths would use pedestrian infrastructure to ensure safety. One infrastructure near Bobby West that does not have sidewalks and would require students to walk around it, if the distance were to increase to over 1 6 km, then bussing would be put into place.”

To try and solve this issue, Council wants to examine the possibility of more crossing guards at this junction to increase safety.

Some students relocated from Cobblestone Elementary school to Paris Central will have to walk from as far as Catherine St. in the south end, or down the hill on King Edward St , to get to their new school

According to the GEDSB website, “Cobblestone Elementary School students residing in the area north of Catherine St south of Grand River St South, and west of the Grand River will be redirected north to Paris Central Public School This impacts approximately 75 students ”

Brant County Mayor David Bailey is concerned about the alternative route children may take

Bailey said, “kids will be kids” and worries that rather than walking down King Edward St , young students will discover the shortcut of walking down Laurel St., through the park, over the bridge and through town to save time

This concerns him because the hill leading to the park is steep, without a sidewalk and can be unsafe in winter months. As well, the following foot bridge at the Lions Park entrance is high and the river below poses its own risks.

“Paris Central Public School students residing north of Paris Links Road and including what has been identified as Holding Zone 1 will be redirected to North Ward School. This impacts less than 5 existing students,” states the GEDSB website “This is a total of approximately 63 students moving from Paris Central Public School and 117 students moving from Cobblestone Elementary School ”

County Council has been quite vocal in its desire to be more involved with and aware of the decision making of the school board. Better collaboration and unity will ensure safety changes are implemented ahead of time, with proper consideration

“I don’t think the ‘movement of students’ by the board is complete,” said Councillor John Pierce in the meeting. ”I think we need to interject ourselves as much as we can and at least be on a discussion basis back and forth so we’re not broadsided ”

According to the Grand Erie District School Board website, “a Boundary Review has been completed to address school capacity pressures as a result of population growth in the Paris area.”