Proposed Boundary Changes May Affect Several WCSSAA Clubs

In an article in the Waterloo Region Record last week, it was noted that educational consultants have suggested that local high school boundaries be "reworked" ---- and have even suggested the construction of a new high school in west Kitchener.

Not surprisingly, one of the recommendations was to see all students within walking distance of Huron Heights SS in Kitchener attend HHHS.  Currently, the boundary is strict and some who could walk to Huron are instead bussed to Preston HS in Cambridge.

It is recommended that Preston, in turn, would receive students from the current (and expanding) Jacob Hespeler encatchment area.

Meanwhile, the basketball hotbed of West Kitchener (and Waterloo) may also see some changes.

Students residing in the Westvale neighbourhood of Waterloo (currently about 250 students) would go back to attending KCI instead of SJAM.  Some of you may recall that kids in that area went to KCI until the time that SJAM was opened.

The consultants' report also suggested the board think about building a brand-new high school in west Kitchener (current Forest Heights encatchment area) to accomodate future long-term growth in the area.  If you've been for a drive out Ottawa Street lately, as I was a few weeks back to attend a friend's housewarming, plenty of "growth" has already been evidenced.

This proposed "Trussler Heights High School" (thought I'd keep the "Heights" theme) wouldn't be for a few years at the earliest, if at all.

What does this all mean for WCSSAA basketball?

Well, once these changes are implemented (probably 2011-12 at earliest), you could see KCI and/or HHHS soon make the jump up to AAAA.  It is a matter of time (in my opinion) before we see HHHS hit that AAAA mark, especially with the growth in that area.  KCI is a different story; yes, they will be getting added students but one must keep in mind that their encatchment area is seeing declining enrolment --- so these "added students" will likely be offset to some degree by this.

Still a lot of discussions to take place and work to be done; nothing is "in stone" as of yet.  It will be something to keep an eye on anyways as the proposals progress.