The Upper Grand District School Board is exploring an expansion of the International Baccalaureate program to the County of Wellington and County of Dufferin but what the program could look like in the future remains to be seen.
The IB diploma program is designed for students ages 16 to 19. It’s academically challenging and aims to prepare students for post-secondary education. It is internationally recognized by universities.
The program is only offered at Guelph CVI within UGDSB.
At the board meeting on June 15 delegates showed concern for the recommendation for the program to start in Grade 11 instead of Grade 9. Students accepted into the two-year program go through IB preparatory courses for Grade 9 and 10 before the diploma program starts. The prep courses aren't mandatory.
Parents ask for more time, data and consultation before the Upper Grand District School Board decides to get rid of the IB prep program for Grade 9 and 10.
Delegate Blakie Sahay is part of a parent group in Guelph within UGDSB. The group is asking for more time for a community review of the proposal for IB admissions to start in Grade 11 and the removal of the IB prep courses.
“So access to the program is part of the issue and we recognize this and want to advocate for either expansion of both IB prep and IB diploma, or to really look at actual sustainable transportation solutions that we proposed at this time,” said Sahay.
She referenced parents from Erin who delegated in 2022 about transportation for students in the IB program since it's only offered at GCVI but any UGDSB student can apply.
“You don’t solve accessibility and equity by cutting the IB prep Grade 9 and 10 program from Upper Grand District School Board,” she said. “People that don’t have the program still won’t have the program. You are taking it from everyone then and that is not equity.”
She’s also worried that if admission for the program starts in Grade 11 at GCVI, students won’t want to leave their home school where they have formed connections to move schools for the program.
Parents want to work with the school board to help raise funds to cover the costs of the IB prep program.
Alexander Lukens, Grade 12 student at GCVI spoke on behalf of concerned students. He was in the IB prep and diploma programs. He thinks if there isn’t a prep program, eventually there won’t be a diploma program either since it is academically challenging.
The IB program is reviewed, like other programs in the board, every five years. The review of the program from the June 4 special policy and priorities meeting highlighted many positive parts of the IB program, said Peter Sovran, UGDSB director of education. There are concerns about the program's sustainability.
It costs about $600,000 to run the program as it is. It’s not self-sustaining and requires almost $100,000 of funding from the board each year. It was supposed to be self-sustaining in 2016/2017, said in a report.
Annually the program has incurred additional costs and the demand for the program has outpaced supply. There is a wait list for the program. “Therefore the non-acceptance of several hundred students applying from within the UGDSB,” said Sovran.
In the report’s additional information it shows roughly 1,500 students within UGDSB applied for the IB program over seven years and just over 1,000 UGDSB students were accepted.
Staff is prepared to develop supports for students in the absence of the IB prep program. The supports would be available to all UGDSB students.
“So we are being asked to continue a program that is not doing its job in reaching all of the students and providing benefit to all of the students of Upper Grand,” said trustee Robin Ross.
She doesn’t see how more time could make the program successful to reach more students or be accessible to more students. “I’ve heard a lot about Guelph students not wanting to lose something and I understand that,” said Ross. “Programs being lost in a school hurts a lot of people.”
Trustee Jennifer Edwards didn’t agree with the IB program starting in Grade 11 because transitioning to a new school for the program in the middle of high school would be difficult.
Trustee Martha MacNeil placed a motion for recommendation two, that the IB diploma program at GCVI continue with admissions starting in Grade 11 from September 2026 onwards, be referred back to the policy and priorities committee meeting for this September. The motion carried.
This gives the committee more time to discuss the recommendation, said MacNeil.
“I’m just disappointed that we are now locked into waiting without any clear direction on why we’re waiting to make a decision that we already have a report and information on,” said Ross.
Edwards noted the report indicated a large majority of IB program students from outside of Guelph come from Wellington East. The recommendation is for staff to explore expanding the program to the County of Dufferin and North Wellington.
The recommendation was amended to include Wellington East. It was amended again to include the Country of Dufferin and the County of Wellington with a time frame of information from staff to be received during the 2024/2025 school year. It was passed as amended.
It would take six months per area for a full consultation to explore the viability of an expansion, said Sovran.
The final recommendations were for staff to provide information on the program in alignment with UGDSB policies including past board resolutions and for staff to further review students who applied, accepted, didn’t accept joining the IB program. Both motions carried.
More information about the IB program will be discussed in the next school year.
