It's on! Early wedding confirmed for Dunn, Bawating

An earlier-than-planned amalgamation of Bawating and Sir James Dunn high schools was approved last night by the Algoma District School Board.

The two were originally to be consolidated in September 2011 in a new secondary school to be built on the Bawating site.

But the board consulted with the students, staff and families of both schools and it was decided last night to move that amalgamation up a year.

Most students who would have gone to Bawating in September 2010 will instead be attending class at the Sir James Dunn site instead.

It won't be called Sir James Dunn, though, says Director of Education Mario Turco.

The students will be coming together in the new Superior Heights Collegiate and Vocational School at Dunn site.

They'll be flying a new school banner with new colours, mascot and team names.

"Students in Grade 11 now will still have a choice as to what their graduation diploma will say next year," said Turco. "They could choose to be the first graduating class of Superior Heights or the last graduating class of the Dunn - or Bawating - depending on which school they came from."

The move means there will be more programming options available to students from both schools.

There will also be more extracurricular program and sports options available with more students in the school.

Turco said he's very happy with the level of engagement, interest and cooperation in this issue demonstrated by the students - especially the senior students - of both schools.

He said that, when faced with a difficult choice, they clearly made the one that was best for the most students.

Not all programs currently housed in Bawating will be making the move, though.

The board is looking at temporarily locating the Bawating Community Education and Late School programs at Prince Charles School, Turco said.

The Grade 7 and 8 students currently at Bawating and planning to attend in September 2010 will be going to the Sir James Dunn site to the temporary location of Superior Heights Collegiate and Vocational School.

The full text of a release from the board follows.

************************* Early amalgamation of Sir James Dunn and Bawating Collegiate and Vocational Schools

At Tuesday night's meeting, the board approved the early amalgamation of the Sir James Dunn and Bawating Collegiate and Vocational Schools under the name of the new school, Superior Heights Collegiate and Vocational School for September 2010.

During the planning/design process of the new 7-12 school, new information became available that required the board to consider an earlier amalgamation of the students and staff from the Bawating site to the Sir James Dunn site.

Some of the new information that required consideration was as follows:

- Program availability - due to declining enrolment in both schools, students are having difficulty accessing the courses they require.

- Extracurricular programs - over the last two years, the extracurricular program at Bawating has been impacted. In the 2009-2010 year, the school was unable to offer junior football, junior girls basketball, wrestling and hockey. Other extracurricular programs/ clubs/ events have also been impacted.

- Site implications - in the original planning, the new school building would be ready for occupancy in September 2011, but it is understood now that the entire site will not be ready until September 2012. The demolition of Bawating is anticipated to take two to three months and under the initial plans, this would not have occurred until August of 2011. The implications then would be that the playing fields, parking lot, paving and landscaping would not be completed until 2012.

Other considerations for an earlier amalgamation include the following enhanced opportunities: relationship building (students and staff), new school policy development, curriculum development for new and existing courses, development of a course calendar, scheduling, student leadership opportunities, and the building of school culture.

Administrative staff began a consultative process in September 2009 and met and heard feedback from administration council, Ministry of Education staff, teachers, unions, all staff, student councils, parents, late school staff and students, Bawating Community Educatiob program, Grade 7 and 8 students and parents.

Early in the process, school staff, teaching and non-teaching, from both schools, were asked to indicate their level of support.

The results were 85 percent in support of the amalgamation.

Letters of support have also been submitted by both school councils, both student councils, OSSTF and OSSTF support staff.

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