Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board approves 2022-23 school calendar, program changes

The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board has approved and released the 2022-23 school year calendar.

On Tuesday evening, school board trustees approved the school calendar year, which included minor changes due to recent Ministry of Education direction with respect to the use of professional activity days.

The school calendar includes the following dates:

• First day of classes: Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022
• Last day of classes: Wednesday, June 28, 2023 (revised)
• Winter break: Monday, Dec. 26, 2022 through to Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. Of note, the last day of school for 2022 is Dec. 23 and the return to classes is Monday, Jan. 9.
• March break: March 10 to March 17, 2023

The school board serves 74 elementary schools, 13 secondary schools and three adult/alternative educational learning sites in Peterborough, Peterborough County, Northumberland County and the Municipality of Clarington.

Other highlights of Tuesday’s school board meeting saw trustees approve the following:

Tenders: Three tenders for annual property maintenance services were awarded to Town & Country Estate & Commercial Lawn Maintenance/Bell Paving Ltd. for the following regions:

• Peterborough region: $4,185,913.16 including net tax (2.16 per cent) for a five-year term
• Northumberland region: $3,346,060.37 including net tax (2.16 per cent) for a five-year term
• Clarington region: $3,819,244.53 including net tax (2.16 per cent) for a five-year term

Approved bursaries:

• The $2,000 Frank Keeler Memorial Bursary will be awarded annually to one graduating student of Campbellford District High School.
• Canadian Federation of University Women Northumberland, Apprenticeship Bursaries in the amounts of $500 to be awarded to four female-identifying graduating students, one in each of the four Northumberland secondary schools: Campbellford District High School, Cobourg Collegiate Institute, East Northumberland Secondary School and Port Hope High School), who have met the award criteria for 2021-2022.
• Five one-time scholarships, sponsored by the CFUW Northumberland, to be known as The Roberta Bondar 30th Anniversary Scholarships, in the amount of $1,500 within Northumberland secondary schools.

Program changes to Newcastle and Port Hope-area schools: Trustees approved a plan to establish Newcastle Public School as a junior kindergarten to Grade 5 dual-track French immersion school and to establish The Pines Senior Public School in Newcastle as a Grade 6 to 8 dual-track French immersion school, both effective in September.

The board says the changes were proposed by administration to address ongoing enrolment pressures at Newcastle Public School and at Ganaraska Trail Public School in Port Hope. The board says those schools no longer have space available to accommodate future portables based on current and projected student enrolments.

“Student accommodation considerations are among the most significant decisions brought to board and are made with deliberation and careful review,” said Diane Lloyd, board chairperson. “While having growth areas in the board is positive overall, we simply have no further space to accommodate students within these schools as they exist currently. For example, at Newcastle PS, we already have 11 portables on site, with limited capacity to place any further on site.”

The board also approved that Ganaraska Trail PS be established as a junior kindergarten to Grade 5 dual-track French immersion school and Dr. M.S. Hawkins Senior Public School in Port Hope be established as a Grade 6 to 8 dual-track French immersion school effective September 2022.

Administration will also be submitting a proposal for a new school, potentially kindergarten to Grade 12, in the Newcastle Public School catchment area.

“We have a positive and collaborative relationship with our provincial partners in education, and will put our best case forward in hope of securing funding to address our student accommodation pressures for the long term,” said Lloyd.

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