Agency official outlines grade-based school plan; principals report parent concerns on transportation and building futures

An Ontario SD 8C agency official summarized district outreach on a proposed shift to grade-based elementary schools and told the board the district plans to offer transportation to all elementary students while working to limit changes to routing and start times.

The move was presented as a way to reduce unmanaged student mobility and to strengthen teacher collaboration and targeted services. Principals from Alameda, Cairo, Aiken, Bay of Roberts and Pioneer reported on community meetings, saying parents raised repeated concerns about transparency, exact bus-stop times, staggered start times and how special-education students will transition.

"So we had about 30 parents and and, some additional staff at that meeting," Andrea Buckles, principal of Alameda, said while describing the district's initial meetings and the common themes parents raised about transportation and the research behind the proposal. Jenny Dagan, principal at Cairo, told the board that both of her meetings drew only a few families, "and very similar themes, asking about transportation and the staggering and, of start and end times." Kevin Capps, vice principal at Aiken, said families were largely supportive of proposed enrichment and special-education continuity but still had questions about timing and transitions.

District staff outlined how transportation would change if the district proceeds: rather than buses stopping at every house, routes would pick up neighborhood clusters at designated bus stops and bring elementary students to a single building before moving on to additional stops. "We're gonna just transport all kids," the agency official said, explaining that current practice already staggers pickups because many buses serve multiple schools. The official added that the district has contacted other districts that have already adopted grade-based configurations to learn from their experience.

Officials also cited local data to justify the change: the agency official said roughly 70% of Pioneer's students and 80% of Cairo's students live closer to town schools, and estimated that about 30% of the district's students attend schools outside their immediate attendance area—"more than 300 of those students" on a hypothetical 1,100-student baseline. Board members and staff raised unmanaged mobility (which the district estimated at about 30–40% in some years) as a major reason to consider the shift.

Principals and staff described steps the district is taking: surveying certified staff (already completed), a forthcoming classified-staff survey, plans to finalize certified-staff placements, and online registration during spring parent-teacher conferences (in April) to inform route planning. The agency official recommended forming a community committee of parents, staff and other stakeholders to guide outreach "if we move forward with this." The official also strongly denied rumors that the district had been negotiating sales or leases of school buildings, calling that characterization "absolutely positively not true."

Board members repeatedly emphasized listening to educators and avoiding hasty decisions about facilities. Several members cautioned against selling buildings, citing past district experiences that left negative long-term consequences.

No formal votes or motions were recorded during the work session. The board adjourned for a brief recess after the discussion and signaled further outreach and data collection before any final decisions.

The district said it will continue community meetings, gather additional staff and parent feedback, and use registration data to finalize bus routing and staffing plans ahead of the next school year.