Enrolment boom biggest challenge for London Catholic schools: Board chair
The board has 26,000 students, up from 24,000 a year ago.
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Its enrolment growing faster than any other school board in Ontario, the new chairperson of the London District Catholic school board says he’s not afraid to make “bold decisions” to deal with the pressures that’s causing.
The board has 26,000 students, up from 24,000 a year ago.
“That is the biggest challenge we have,” said London trustee Gabe Pizzuti, a former principal who was acclaimed as board chair Nov. 16. “We are the fastest-growing school board in Ontario; the board is growing at an exponential rate.”
Pizzuti, whose first meeting as chair was Monday, takes over from Linda Steel who has served the last two years as chair.
Pizzuti says he’s “honoured and privileged” to take over the new role and stressed a commitment to fiscal responsibility. The board has an operating budget of around $325 million.
“On the plus side, we are incredibly fiscally responsible,” he said. “We are not prepared to have students in portables for long periods of time and have empty classrooms.”
Last year, the board changed school attendance boundaries because St. Marguerite d’Youville elementary school had too many portables and St. Paul elementary school had four empty classrooms, Pizzuti said.
The board moved 111 pupils to St. Paul and was able to start construction on a new elementary school in northwest London and buy land for a northeast London elementary school, he said.
“The board of trustees is willing to confront and make challenging decisions,” he said. “Our success comes from eliminating empty classrooms and changing boundaries to eliminate portables and fill classroom space so we can build schools and alleviate overcrowding and under-utilized space.”
Another huge issue the board has faced has been teacher recruitment and retention, Pizzuti said.
Of their 3,800 staff, 460 have only been employed by the board for the last 10 months.
The board is still looking to attract teachers and employees “so we can invest in them,” Pizzuti said.
“We want to establish true pathways for employees to access ongoing professional development and set paths for career progression within the board and produce new leaders,” he said.
The board has also implemented a literacy goal that all children should be able to read by the end of Grade1, he said.
