The report is expected to come back to trustees at the Oct. 19 board meeting for a vote on the preliminary report.

“It is understood these schools have meaning and value for their communities. The Halton District School Board values and encourages community participation in this process. We are therefore requesting the formation of a Program and Accommodation Review Committee (PARC) to participate in an advisory role, to be a conduit of information, and to provide meaningful input and feedback in the proposed solutions,” states Halton board Education Director Stuart Miller within his 120-page preliminary report to the board.

The average age of Burlington’s public high schools is 51 years, and that includes four-year-old Dr. Frank J. Hayden. Central opened in 1922 while Pearson opened in 1976.

In addition to the closure of Central and Pearson, board staff’s Option 19 recommends redefining the school programming and catchment area (geographical boundary) for Hayden, located on Tim Dobbie Drive, just north of Dundas Street, in the growing Alton community.

Low enrolment at Pearson and low utilization at nearby M.M. Robinson H.S. would be addressed by closing Pearson and sending all of its students, including late French Immersion program pupils, to Robinson. The schools are less than two kilometres apart.

However, closing Pearson would not impact low enrolment issues south of the QEW in Burlington hence the recommendation to close Central H.S. as well.

All secondary students living west of Brant Street are currently being recommended to eventually be redirected to Aldershot H.S. while Central students east of Brant would move to Nelson H.S.

The report does not suggest the redirection of the Grade 7 and 8 pupils housed at Central within its elementary school portion.

If the high school closes, a Program and Accommodation Review might be needed for elementary schools that feed into Central for Grades 7 and 8, according to the report.

The relatively new Hayden secondary has more students than it is rated for, a trend expected to continue until 2021. It is rated for a capacity of 1,194 pupils but had 1,408 as of 2015 (118 per cent) with 1,799 projected by 2020 (151 per cent) with no changes.

Additional enrolment pressure on Hayden could come from an anticipated residential development of about 900 homes in the Evergreen Community north of Dundas Street and west of Tremaine Road. About 50 secondary students would come from the area with Hayden the closest high school.

Staff is recommending changing Hayden’s student boundaries and removing its French Immersion program. English and FI students south of Upper Middle Road would go to Robert Bateman H.S. FI students north of Upper Middle would move to MMR.

If the director’s report is approved by a majority of trustees on Oct. 19, the next step would be to establish a Program and Accommodation Review Committee by Dec. 1.

The first of two public meetings on the accommodation report and its recommendations would take place Dec. 8.

Program and Accommodation Review Committee meetings would happen between January and March 2017 with a second public meeting, if necessary, on March 2.

A public delegation night would be in mid-April with a final report going to trustees in May for a decision on possible school closures, as well as some programming and student transportation changes.

To see the 120-page director’s report and the 19 options from board staff, go to http://bit.ly/2doDMIP.