Superior-Greenstone DSB Reconfigures School Administration

Written by Superior-Greenstone District School Board on 14 June 2013

Manitouwadge High School to Share Principal With Local Elementary School

MARATHON, ON – Senior officials at Superior-Greenstone District School Board are still in the process of finalizing the Board budget, but to meet the Ministry of Education’s requirement of a balanced budget they have had to make some changes in how the schools will operate in order to achieve the necessary savings. One significant change being implemented is the reconfiguration of school administration.

Director of Education, David Tamblyn said that, the change is in line with the School Board’s practice of twining elementary schools but, in the new school year, two of the smaller secondary schools are being brought into the grouping.

“Lake Superior High School will be grouped with the elementary schools in Terrace Bay and Schreiber while in Manitouwadge, the high school will be paired with the elementary public school in the community,” explained Tamblyn.

“We continue to struggle with the reductions in funding resulting from the impact of years of declining enrolment in our schools,” said Tamblyn. In the last ten years, enrolment in SuperiorGreenstone DSB has declined by about 40% currently standing at an enrolment of approximately1600 students.

“To put this into perspective,” said Tamblyn, “Our total elementary and secondary student enrolment is comparable to the size of a large high school in an urban board. SuperiorGreenstone DSB is comprised of 12 elementary schools and five high schools. Seven of the elementary schools have less than 50 students. Ministry funding supports an average class size of 24.5 students in grades 4 to 8. In our Board, the average class size is 16.4. When we take into consideration the budget cuts and the projected enrolment, clearly, we can no longer continue operating as we have in the past,” he said. Reductions in teaching staff did apply at some schools, however layoffs were kept to a minimum by virtue of the provision in the teacher’s collective agreement and in small part through attrition,” said Tamblyn. “Under the circumstances, we are pleased with the level of staffing for which we have budgeted and for the quality of academic programming we are able to maintain”

Tamblyn added that, staffing at the Board office had also been reduced over the course of the last year. He explained that, positions vacated by staff resignations are reviewed closely as to the value of replacement versus acceding to attrition.

Tamblyn provided the following highlights in regard to the schools that will be affected by the school administration reconfiguration being implemented in 2013-2014.