Trustees look at moving Grades 7 and 8 students to Trenton High School

Trenton High School, located on 15 Fourth Avenue in Trenton, may be opening its doors to 209 Grade 7 and 8 students this September. Photo courtesy of the Trenton High School website. 

By Leah Den Hartogh

BELLEVILLE – More than 200 Trenton students in Grades 7 and 8 from the public school board system will be moving to Trenton High School this September if the board passes a recommendation on Feb. 26.

Mandy Savery-Whiteway, the board’s director of education, and Nick Pfeiffer, the superintendent of business services, made the recommendation to the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board on Monday.

It passed through the committee meeting of the board of trustees which allows it to move to the final stages at a public board meeting.

Students from North Trenton Public School, Prince Charles Public School, Trent River Public School and V.P. Carswell Elementary School would turn Trenton High school into a Grade 7 to 12 school.

The board is recommending this because space is tight at all four of the elementary schools, while the high school has 460 unused student spaces.

The committee has taken into consideration the reaction of parents, most of which hasn’t been negative, according to Savery-Whiteway.

“We have not had feedback [from parents] that said “don’t do this,”” she said.

The main concern parents have with the recommendation comes from the logistics of the change.

“Parents are really interested in knowing that, first of all, where are their children going to be located within a high school setting, what will their schedules look like, how will they interact?” she said.

According to Savery-Whiteway, parents are also interested in knowing if the teachers will be qualified to teach at the elementary level, where will they have outdoor recess, and if there will still be a Grade 8 graduation.

Many of the trustees at the meeting were concerned with the students moving as well. Dave Patterson, the vice-chair of the board and the representative to the board of directors for the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, questioned what area of the school would be dedicated to the elementary students.

“I’d be interested in knowing what the details are,” said Patterson.

Nick Pfeiffer explained to the committee that an upper floor wing that faces the track, located above the tech wing and a stairwell at the end of the hall that leads to a large area will be for the younger students. 

Tom Biniaris, the representative for the Trenton area, said he is hearing similar concerns from parents.

He asked whether or not this new change would affect any of the start times for the schools involved. Savery-Whiteway told the board of trustees that all students at Trenton High School would have the same start times, but Prince Charles Public School may get an earlier start time to help the students in the French immersion program.

Currently, only Centennial Secondary School in Belleville and Prince Edward Collegiate Institute in Picton operate using the Grades 7 to 12 model.

“As we have done that, what we have learned is that it is best to locate students in one part of the school,” said Savery-Whiteway. “So they’ll have their own space.”

The director of education said that they are open to hearing what parents and students think about the new change, but no discussion has been set at this time.

The local Parent Involvement Committee chose not to comment on the recommendation.