A class of 69 graduating Grade 8 students is ready for high school in September. But for those wishing to attend Ancaster High, transportation could be a problem.

According to current school board catchment boundaries, students within the Ancaster Meadow area can receive bus service to Sir Allan MacNab Secondary School. But the majority of students, who wish to attend Ancaster High School, must find their own ride to school because Ancaster High is considered out of the catchment.

Catchment boundaries were determined before Bishop Tonnos Catholic Secondary School opened its doors in 2005. Since then, the board has seen hundreds of students migrate to the separate board, which has allowed Ancaster High to operate below capacity, despite Ancaster’s population growth. Over the last four years, since Ancaster Meadow first opened, dozens of parents have paid up to $700 per child to a private bus company for transportation to Ancaster High School. Others have carpooled or driven their children to school on a daily basis.

Ancaster Meadow principal Bev Laporte said about 47 of the 69 graduating students at Ancaster Meadow’s class of 2009 plan to attend Ancaster High this fall.

“It still means that all of them will have to figure out a way of getting there,” she said.

Ancaster Meadow’s home and school council is circulating a petition seeking to formally change the catchment from Sir Allan MacNab to Ancaster High. No change is anticipated in time for the new school year.

School board superintendent Scott Sincerbox said the board is awaiting a report from the Secondary School of the Future Committee in November before considering any catchment boundary changes. Parents like Sharon Rance are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for bus service to Ancaster High. But Ms. Rance is currently on a waiting list for her son, Will. More students are needed to fill the bus in order to reserve it for the full year, at a cost of about $650 per student.

“My preference is for (Will) to go to Ancaster High,” Ms. Rance said. “He swam there, he played sports across the road and his friends are going there.”

Another parent said she plans to start a carpool to get her daughter to Ancaster High.

“They should be bussed. It’s not right,” said the parent, who declined to give her name.

Ms. Laporte also noted Ancaster Meadow would face urgent accommodation issues if the province introduces its planned expansion of Junior and Senior kindergarten. She estimated the plan could boost the school’s enrolment by 140 students or the equivalent of three portable classrooms. Ancaster Meadow is already operating above capacity with more than 700 students.

Mr. Sincerbox said the board is examining enrolment pressures at Ancaster Meadow. Since its opening year in 2005, Ancaster Meadow has operated with several portable classrooms. Mr. Sincerbox said the board is examining whether it can use available capacity at other schools to relieve some of the enrolment pressures.

“We wanted to have board staff look at Ancaster Senior Public School to redistribute the composition of students,” Mr. Sincerbox said.