Catholic elementary schools are stealing the spotlight in Chatham this year, but it won't be long before Ursuline College Chatham (UCC) goes under the microscope.
Enrollment at Chatham's only Catholic high school is expected to drop by about 200 students over the next ten years and that means the amount of unused space at the school will continue to grow.
The St. Clair Catholic District School Board's latest estimates expect UCC to use only about 63% of its facilities by 2026. Estimates for 2016 say about 74% of the school is being used right now.
Board Director Dan Parr says because of that, they'll be looking at "right-sizing."
"Right-sizing simply means that in 2018, we are going to look at the possibilities for Ursuline College," says Parr. "We know that we have excess space and some facilities concerns."
At this point, it's not clear what that "right-sizing" would include.
"It could mean any and all things," says Parr. "All it means for sure right now is that we're going to look at our possibilities in 2018."
A report from the SCCDSB estimates that enrollment at UCC will drop from 1,227 students in 2016 to 1,040 students in 2026.
Parr says a lot of that has to do with an aging population in Chatham-Kent.
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