Deciding who goes to a new school is not as easy as one might imagine.
Most people would assume it’s a result of simple geography — if you’re closer to the new school than the one you’re currently attending, you’ll move to the new school.
Not necessarily, school board officials say.
According to Sandy Clee, assistant manager of accommodation planning at the Simcoe County District School Board, the process of determining who goes where is like building a 3-D puzzle, one layer at a time.
“As you’re moving areas to the new school, you also have to look at what you’re doing to the existing schools to make sure you’re not losing the breadth or the whole program of that school,” Clee explained to the board's business and facilities standing committee Wednesday evening.
This came prior to the committee approving the attendance area review (AAR) for the new elementary school being built at 739 Horseshoe Valley Rd. W., next to Horseshoe Valley Memorial Park on Line 4 North, in Oro-Medonte Township.
“As you develop it, you’re constantly looking at all of your enrolments for each school and what growth is coming in and how that growth will backfill," Clee said. “We have to balance how many we’re putting into the new school.”
According to Corry Van Nispen, the board's superintendent of business and facility services, the new elementary school in Oro-Medonte, which opens this September, will accommodate 570 pupils.
He said the AAR is intended to better balance enrolment and relieve accommodation pressures at other area schools.
The schools involved in the AAR for the new Oro-Medonte elementary school were East Oro Public School, Forest Hill Public School, including the French immersion program, Guthrie Public School and W.R. Best Memorial Public School and the two Barrie schools currently holding students — West Bayfield and Terry Fox.
The high schools included Barrie North and Eastview, as well as Twin Lakes in Orillia.
“Considering new attendance areas and changes to existing attendance areas, the intent is to balance school enrolments, create sustainable and stable school populations and school programs, efficient use of accommodation and realize transportation efficiencies while also preparing for future growth,” Van Nispen told the committee.
“There has been significant residential and student population growth in the review area that is expected to continue into the future," he added.
Van Nispen advised the committee that another designated elementary school site is in the Craighurst community, six kilometres west of the new school, and there are two additional sites in Midhurst, which will be municipally serviced, which staff expect to be required in the "near- to mid-term."
The committee approved the following recommendations, with implementation proposed for September 2025 for elementary schools and September 2026 for the secondary schools:
- Apply the previously noted regular program elementary school boundaries as set out in Appendix E (click here for full report and referenced appendices)
- Remove holding status for the holding area currently directed to West Bayfield Elementary School and direct it to Forest Hill Public School as set out in Appendix E
- Relocation of the elementary French immersion program from Forest Hill to W.R. Best Memorial Public School
- Apply the previously proposed French immersion program boundaries as set out in Appendix F
- Apply the proposed regular program secondary school boundary for the holding area of West Bayfield from Barrie North to Eastview as set out in Appendix G
- Areas within the Twin Lakes attendance area attending the new Oro-Medonte elementary school would remain status quo as set out in Appendix G
- Staff recommend all elementary schools involved in the review be closed to out-of-area attendance in September 2025, as per past practice
- As per policy, students entering Grade 8 in September, with the exception of the transferring current WR Best Memorial and Forest Hill French immersion program, will be given the choice to graduate from their current home school with transportation provided, if eligible.
“Staff acknowledge that some uncertainty currently exists particularly as it relates to transportation and staffing,” Van Nispen said. “These will be guided by the enrolment from the newly established attendance areas once approved.
“These items will be available as the Simcoe County Student Transportation Consortium and the (board) staff progress through their respective planning processes this spring for the 2025-2026 school year,” he added.
Van Nispen also said transition plans and support will be “co-operatively and collaboratively developed and implemented by the respective school administrations.”
