District School Board Ontario North East may have to consolidate more schools. Over the past six years, the board has closed five elementary schools. Chair of the Board of Trustees Doug Shearer says unfortunately the board continues to have under-utilized space issues. Shearer says they are operating at only 50 per cent capacity of their schools and they have to take action to reduce the excess space.
One concern the board has is compacting students into schools that need repairs and upgrades. Shearer states the school board is tens of millions of dollars behind on repair maintenance work.
He says with a Ministry of Education that won’t commit to new schools, and no change in the funding formula in sight, more consolidations my be the board’s only option.