After months of analysis, consultations and digesting community feedback, on December 10th the KPRDSB concluded that the most acceptable way to balance school populations in the Crestwood family of schools was to separate the destination of North Cavan and Millbrook South Cavan students.
North Cavan students will continue to attend Crestwood Secondary School whereas Millbrook South Cavan students will move to Kenner for their intermediate and high school studies.
The board was seeking to rebalance intermediate and high school populations. Uneven growth had resulted in critical overcrowding in some schools and extra space in others. The objective was to establish a long term, sustainable plan to balance enrolment by realigning feeder schools and school boundaries. Kenner was the obvious destination of choice for Cavan Monaghan students due to its proximity and its low enrolment. Its numbers have been in decline for many years, a trend that was exacerbated by the elimination of the International Baccalaureate program at this school. Even with the influx of Millbrook students in the fall of 2025, Kenner’s enrolment is projected to reach 54%, falling to 51% the following year as this program winds down.
After months of advocating to keep Millbrook students in their community school, after a closer look at the enrolment numbers, Trustee Angela Lloyd concluded that the volume of students coming from Millbrook could not be accommodated at Crestwood. Strong presentations from North Cavan families convinced the board that their students could continue at Crestwood because their numbers are very different from those in Millbrook. North Cavan grades represent fewer than 30 students each, whereas in Millbrook each grade has as many as 80 students, with growth from new developments potentially doubling that number.
Some trustees still preferred to move all Cavan Monaghan students to Kenner and implement the transition all at once instead of leaving students who have begun at Crestwood Intermediate and Crestwood High School in their current facility. This option would have increased the student body at Kenner more quickly and possibly saved some of the incremental transportation costs. The majority of Trustees were reluctant to force these students out of their current schools and programs and opted for a gradual transition where students beginning the intermediate and high school levels were the only students to move.
Once the accommodate plan was decided, the conversation moved on to programs. Enrolment drives program choices in schools: the larger the student body, the more program options become viable and the more teams, clubs and other extracurricular activities that enhance the student experience become feasible.
Trustees were looking for board assurances that the students moving to Kenner would have a broad range of program options and attractive extra-curricular activities to make the transition more appealing. The board asked for a commitment to support the school with upgrades to technology, resources, physical plant and extra staffing allocation to support the students through this transition. Director of Education Rita Russo agreed that during budget deliberations, board staff would endeavour to find funds for investments to this support for transitioning students.
Some of these changes will occur gradually. When they arrive at Kenner next fall, Millbrook students will represent a sizeable portion of that school’s population. Teams and clubs will be evolve out of students’ interests as members of the Kenner community. They will also explore the different facilities available at Kenner and find ways to influence the culture of their new schools with their own ideas. KG