The boundary review for the new Fergus elementary school has decided on a recommended option.
Boundary Option 3 will be presented as the preferred choice to the Upper Grand District School Board Feb. 25 by the finance and facilities committee. If approved, it will go into effect when the school opens in September.
The new boundary would affect 219 students currently attending Elora Public School and Salem Public School.
Students who would be entering Grade 8 at Elora Public School who are outside that school's new boundary will remain at Elora Public School. Siblings of those Grade 8 students in grades four to seven will have the option of remaining at Elora Public School for one extra year.
"Staff also recommends the grandparenting of Grade 8 students within this new boundary at Elora PS for the 2025-26 school year. To keep families together, younger siblings of the grandparented Grade 8 students who are in Grades 4-7 at Elora PS in 2025-26 will also be given the option to attend Elora PS for one year in 2025-26 and then will be reassigned to the new Centre Wellington ES in 2026-27," says the report making the recommendation.
Located at Kirvan and Elliot Avenue East within the Fergus Storybrook subdivision, it will be a junior kindergarten to Grade 8 school with 328 pupil places.
A boundary review option map has been created for people to find out if they are impacted by the review.
The recommended new boundary includes the north Fergus development area, area east of Beatty Line North with homes along Side Road 19, area and subdivision north of Side Road 18, west of St. David St. North.
With this boundary it aims to provide sustainable enrolment for the new school in the long-term. It also provides the best enrolment balance for the schools, said in a report from the finance and facilities committee.
The capacity is 464 at Elora, 213 for Salem and 328 for the new school.
As of October the enrolment was 543 at Elora, and 286 at Salem.
The projected enrolment for 2025, is 485 at Elora, 125 for Salem, and 250 for the new elementary school.
By 2030, the projected enrolment is 550 at Elora, 300 at Salem, and 380 at the Centre Wellington elementary school.
Most students in the boundary from junior kindergarten to Grade 6 are within 1.6 km of the new school and for Grade 7 to 8 students they are within a 3.2 km walking distance.
In a survey from November, 80 respondents ranked the four options from most to least preferred. Option four was the least favourable and option three, one and two followed in that order. In the comments there were concerns around grandparenting options for students, transportation and walking concerns due to lack of sidewalks and crossing major intersections.
The comments in support for options three and four were that these options keep neighbourhoods together so students who live near each other can go to school together.
