It's back to school week for thousands of students in the London region
CBC
After two months of vacation, kids and teens will be dusting off their pens, lunch pails and backpacks today to return to class at public and Catholic school boards in the region.
Kids returning to Eagle Heights Public School on Oxford Street West will return to a building with a $9.2-million addition that will accommodate 300 more students and increase the school's library and admin area. There's also a new bus lane that will help with bottlenecks that have been a source of frustration for parents in the past.
Before the addition, the school had 18 portables to accommodate more than 1,00 pupils who attend the school, which serves a large chunk of fast-growing west London.
Eagle Heights if one of eight construction projects that are underway at the public school board, worth more than $200 million.
The Thames Valley District School Board is dealing with a $7.6 million budget deficit and fallout from the optics of a retreat by 18 senior staffers to a hotel in downtown Toronto earlier this summer.
Meanwhile, the London District Catholic School Board (LDCSB) is the fastest-growing Catholic board in the province, with a 30 per cent increase in students over the past five years. The record growth is driving a massive hiring push and new construction projects.
"The LDCSB is up more than 1,500 students this year, and has added nearly 6,400 students since 2020, the equivalent of roughly 20 elementary schools," the school board said in a statement.
To help deal with the growth, the board said it has hired 450 new employees since the beginning of 2024, including more than 100 new teachers.
"Every year we are breaking student enrolment and employee figures from the previous year," said Vince Romeo, the board's director of education. "We continue to hire teachers and staff across nearly every sector, and we are building new schools and adding portables."
All those kids back in school buses and parents on the road mean drivers will have to be more patient, police warn. The school bus companies are urging parents to check their emails for daily cancellations amid a province-wide driver shortage.
"Always use a crosswalk and follow signals," said Sgt. Ozzie Nethersole of the London Police Service traffic management unit. "If you're biking to school, always wear a helmet."
Drivers are being asked to always stop for school buses and be alert to kids crossing the street, he added.
"Safety is a shared responsibility," Nethersole said.
