The Bluewater District School Board (BWDSB) is changing its portable classroom plans at a school in Flesherton to save a forest.
BWDSB Communications Officer Jamie Pettit says following a recent public meeting on March 21, staff have proposed the board change where it will be installing three new portable classrooms at Macphail Memorial Elementary School.
“There was a community session held at Macphail as part of our portable placements procedure where we did present some of the plan the board was looking at and also solicited some feedback from members of the public,” says Pettit. “Staff were able to take away the information they collected and the feedback from that meeting and have made the decision since that time.”
This is the latest after the board announced the placement of the new portables at the school to address the rising number of students. A significant community response arose from this decision which would have seen trees removed from Kindy Forest.
- Group Concerned About Loss Of Trees At Flesherton School
- Bluewater School Board Trustee Voices Opposition To Removal Of Trees At Arran-Tara, Macphail
“There are going to be the three new portables in place for the start of the new school year next September and the space will also contain the capacity for six,” says Pettit. “I realize that there was a lot of passion and a lot of valuable input provided by the community and this is something staff have paid attention to very carefully, valuing the input of the school community and working diligently to find an agreeable solution for all.”
To preserve the Kindy Forest, Pettit says the new portables will be placed at the back of the school, and will be installed this summer.
When asked if the BWDSB was reconsidering the project at Arran-Tara Elementary School to remove some trees for more parking spaces, Pettit says the project is already underway.
“That is a different scenario in that it is a safety concern, with the parking lot at the school, that’s been identified for several years,” says Pettit. “It’s more or less than an expansion of the parking lot which will require the removal of some bush and trees outside the fenced area. But to compensate for that, the board is going to, once the expanded parking lot is in place for September, more trees will be planted than those that are being cut down, and it will be a combination of new and mature trees.”