School trustees grapple with 6,500 empty spaces

Windsor's public school trustees are looking to reduce thousands of empty spaces that are costing the district millions of dollars in potential funding.

The Windsor-EssexCounty Public School Board has 6,516 empty spaces throughout the region, according to a report from district staff.That number is expected to spike to more than 7,000 by 2026.

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The 148-page document, called the Long Term Accommodation Plan, shows about half the district's schools are wellunder capacity.

Trustee Jessica Sartorifound the numbers staggering.

"When a school board has empty student spaces, it means those student spaces are actually costing us money," shetoldWindsorMorning host TonyDoucette. "I found it to be a little bit shocking."

As of September, the public board's total enrolment was 35,331 students and enrolment is expected to continue to decline over the next decade.

Earlier this year, schools like Hugh Beaton and Queen Victoria were targeted for closurebecause of already low enrolment. The school board says a school like Queen Victoria can accommodate about 650 students. But in 10 years, the report projects the school will have about half that many students.Ward 3 CouncillorRino Bortolin advocated to keep schools like Queen Victoria open due to alackof speciality programs at existing neighbourhood schools.

"Keeping a school openshould not have an impact on teaching and instruction levels. The problem is when moving aheadand what we've seen with the GilesCampus is that they created a french immersion school without doing an impact study to see what impact it would have on the area schools," Bortolin said.

"If we knew, four or fiveyears ago, that Prince Edward and Queen Victoria would be on the chopping block for closures, would we still have created a separate stand-alone french immersion school right in the same neighbourhood?"

Windsor-Essexpublic schools are, on average, 47-years-old and among the oldest inventory of schools in Ontario, according to the report.

With the province funding school boards at a rate of $11,000 per student, the Windsor-Essex board is missing out on potentially $71 million with its 6,500 empty spaces.

"The big question is how do we reduce the number of empty student spaces? There are a variety of ways to do that. One way to do that is by closing a school, which to me is a last resort. Another way to do that is to fill them with potential community partners," Sartori said.