Frequently Asked Questions

Once the Board has approved the initiation of a school boundary review, the Superintendent of the affected Family of Schools will establish the Boundary Review Steering Committee and lead the school boundary review process. This committee will consist of: Family of Schools Superintendent(s) of all affected areas Superintendent from a non-affected area Senior Manager of Planning Services Trustee(s) for all of the affected areas, including Trustee who will co-chair the Boundary Review Committee As necessary, the committee may also include the following supplementary members.

Pauline Johnson PS (ERA 102) has a split grade 6 cohort, students are directed to John T Tuck PS or Frontenac PS. The Boundry Review Steering Committee thought it would be prudent in include the Frontenac PS community as that school will likely be included in proposed scenarios thus they can provide input in these scenarios.

Any boundary changes will be effective September 2020. The boundary review process will determine which areas of the community will be impacted.

The is an elementary boundary review that will impact only elementary schools. High school boundary will not be impacted by this review, therefore if you are currently in Nelson HS catchment then you will be directed to Nelson HS.

A Boundary Review Committee will be established with composed of A non-affected Superintendent and a non-affected Trustee will jointly chair the Boundary Review Committee All members of the Steering Committee (for more information see School Boundary Administrative Procedure​) P​arent representatives from all affected communities Principals of affected schools are not on the Committee, but may be called upon to verify information as required.

Currently the schools that are determined to be involved are: Frontenac, John T. Tuck, Pauline Johnson, Ryerson, Tecumseh.

Optional Attendace is reviewed on an annual basis.

The Fraser Institute, an independent research organization, produces The Report Card on Ontario’s Elementary Schools using Grade 3 and 6 Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) assessment results to calculate each school’s overall rating out of 10 for ranking purposes. The use of the province’s EQAO results to rank schools is of particular concern. EQAO test results are specifically designed to provide useful information to improve our learning programs, but it's misleading to compare schools based only on these scores. Test scores are just one piece of the whole picture about a school. Judgments of school quality should be based on the complete picture of all the programs and features of a school. According to Norah Marsh, CEO for the EQAO, public accountability in Ontario’s publicly funded education system is important, but it isn’t fulfilled through the practice of ranking. Rather, accountability is achieved through the availability of independent data and through open discussions about evidence-informed decisions designed to position all students for success. Although the Halton elementary schools fair well in the Fraser Report with many schools being listed in the top 10% of the report, our Board does not endorse this ranking as a fair evaluation or comparison of schools. In the Halton District School Board we rely on a variety of evidence to plan for school and Board improvement. A school’s effectiveness is influenced by numerous factors, not solely student academic performance. The EQAO assessment results provide helpful information to inform and improve literacy and numeracy programs in schools but they fall short in capturing the full picture of a school. The Fraser Institute does not consider important demographic factors such as parent involvement, or social, academic and intellectual engagement, physical and mental well-being, 21st century learning skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, the arts and sciences, and learning skills and work habits such as self-regulation and collaboration. The ranking system used by the Fraser Institute excludes any schools that do not have both Grade 3 and 6. For the HDSB that excludes 17 elementary schools. In summary, comparing schools based on EQAO results does not provide a comprehensive assessment of a school’s effectiveness. EQAO data is only one piece of the whole picture of the school.

It is preferred that the BRC examine class sizes. At this point, the average class size is for: 
JK-SK is 26 students, 
Grade 1-3 is 20 students 
Grades 4-8 is 24 students. 
At a minimum, each school should have in the range of between 65% to 70% utilization. Generally speaking , the preference is to have 1.5 to 2 classes per grade. However, the school size OTG may prevent that from happening.

In 2018 the Ministry of Education released new Pupil Accommodation Review Guidelines (PARG), which will require the school boards to revise their PAR policies. However, the Ministry indicated that no policies are to be revised and approved until such time they release templates related to the PARG. Those templates have not been released and as such school boards can not proceed with any school closures until these templates are released and school boards revise their policies.

The steering committee has identified the 5 schools that may be potentially impacted by this review. No additional schools are planned to be added to this particular review process.

Ryerson does not have the facility to accommodate grades 7/8 without significant capital upgrades (gym, changerooms, application room) - therefore, none of the options should see grades 7/8 students at Ryerson.

Stable long-term boundaries is basically what is on our charts (10 years and hopefully more). The reality is that there have been little to no circumstances where we've done BR over shorter periods of time unless we have introduced a new school into the area. Area forecasts are generally good for a long time.

The estimated average cost to provide home to school transportation for elementary English program students for the 2018-19 school year is $572 per student.

Crossing Guards are coordinated through the City of Burlington - this cost, operation, and supervision is not assumed by HDSB.

This really depends on the school’s organization and configuration. We have schools that are Grades 6-8 schools. This would increase the number of cohorts. We also have two 7-12 schools - again, would increase the cohort grades.