Abraham Erb · Edna Staebler · Laurelwood · Vista Hills
The board is reviewing which of these four schools west Waterloo children attend, and it has put out two options. Here is what each one does, by the board’s own figures, and how to have your say.
What happens to my kids?The board’s review page and feedback form
1 · Why the board is doing this
This fall two schools are above 100% and two are below. The board wants to balance them, and to give two new neighbourhoods a permanent school.
On the four schools: the projections “demonstrate an uneven distribution of enrolment and permanent capacity across the review area.” The percentages count students against the Ministry’s rating of each building; Laurelwood’s attached portable unit (a “portapak”) isn’t counted, and the board prints percentages from 2027 on, so this year’s are our divisionderived.
On Vista Hills: “Vista Hills Public School is projected to remain above permanent capacity. The enrolment pressure may continue during the next ten years.” With no change, the board projects 775 (121%) next fall and 715 (111%) in 2033, against 643 permanent places. Under both options it projects 680 (106%) in 2033. New homes are still being built across west Waterloo.
On the new neighbourhoods: the North Waterloo and North Waterloo II Development Areas (Autumn Willow Dr, Balsam Poplar St and Canada Plum St; Foamflower Pl and Raspberry Pl) go to Edna Staebler for now, as a temporary “holding school”. The board says building there is close to finished, so it can now consider permanent boundaries. It counts about 60 students there now.
On the goal: “sustainable and connected school boundaries” that keep nearby neighbourhoods together where possible and let more students walk, and to “balance enrolment and permanent school capacity.”
3 · Your family
Check your address on the board’s own map tool. It shows how your address is affected.
To see what each option does in your neighbourhood, tap it on the map below.
4 · Try the what-ifs
Switch options, pick who can stay and see each school year by year. Board figures are labelled “Board”; anything we add is labelled as our estimate.
About 200 students’ assigned school changes (board, Initial Report, Sept 28; its info video says about 120)
About 150 leave Vista Hills (Columbia Forest → Abraham Erb, then Laurelwood for 7-8; Clair Hills West → Edna Staebler); about 60 join from the Development Areas.
Under the rule you picked (Grade 8 only, the board's current plan), up to 30 of them could stay at their current school in Sept 2027 (our estimate).
Tap a neighbourhood to see what each option does there.
725
113% of permanent places (643)
students, Sept 2027
−50 vs no change (775)
Board projectionBoard
480
67% of permanent places (720)
students, Sept 2027
−70 vs no change (550)
Board projectionBoard
450
92% of permanent places (487)
students, Sept 2027
+80 vs no change (370)
Board projectionBoard
675
123% of permanent places (550)
students, Sept 2027
+50 vs no change (625)
Board projectionBoard
Students per 100 permanent places, the Ministry’s rating of the building. Portables don’t count, so 122% means 122 students for every 100 permanent places. Abraham Erb is JK-6; its Grade 7-8 students go to Laurelwood. “Board” is the board’s projection; “Board + our estimate” adds our estimate of the rule you picked. The board prints percentages for 2027, 2033 and 2036; for 2026 and 2030 we divide its figures the same way.
Up to 30 more students stay at their current school in Sept 2027 than with no rule (our estimate). Those who stay finish by June 2028.
| Neighbourhood | Homes | Students, Sept 2027 (about) | Today | Scenario 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area ANorth of Clair Creek: Columbia Forest Blvd, Butternut Ave, Royal Fern Stabout 130 students · 469 homes | 469 | 130 | Vista Hills | Abraham Erb, then Laurelwood (Grades 7-8)changes |
| Area BSouth of Clair Creek, west of Columbia St W: Munich Cir, Salzburg Dr, Winterburg Walkabout 20-80 students · 380 homes | 380 | 20-80 | Vista Hills | Edna Staeblerchanges |
| North of Mayapple St: Rock Elm St, Wood Lily St, Indian Grass St, Snowberry Crtabout 160-185 students · 372 homes | 372 | 160-185 | Vista Hills | Vista Hills |
| Around the school: Sundew Dr, Ladyslipper Dr, Beechdrops Dr, Sweet Gale Stabout 225-260 students · 605 homes | 605 | 225-260 | Vista Hills | Vista Hills |
| Development AreaNew homes: Autumn Willow Dr, Balsam Poplar St, Canada Plum Stabout 45-55 students · 161 homes | 161 | 45-55 | Edna Staeblerfor now (holding school) | Vista Hillschanges |
| Development AreaNew homes: Foamflower Pl, Raspberry Pl (two pockets off Ladyslipper Dr)about 50-60 students · 189 homes | 189 | 50-60 | Edna Staeblerfor now (holding school) | Vista Hillschanges |
| North of Keats Way: Zermatt Dr, Karlsfeld Rd, Brandenburg Blvd, Interlaken Drabout 75-85 students · 449 homes | 449 | 75-85 | Edna Staebler | Edna Staebler |
| South of Keats Way: St Moritz Ave, Paris Blvd, Chablis Dr, Rummelhardt, Erb St Wabout 220-240 students · 1,119 homes | 1,119 | 220-240 | Edna Staebler | Edna Staebler |
| West of Erbsville Rd: Laurelwood Dr (west), Wild Ginger Ave, Violet St, Meadowsweet Ave, Erbsvilleabout 280 students · 1,245 homes | 1,245 | 280 | Abraham Erb, then Laurelwood (Grades 7-8) | Abraham Erb, then Laurelwood (Grades 7-8) |
| East of Erbsville Rd: Creekside Dr, Cedar Bend Dr, Birchmount Dr, Forest Gate Cresabout 90 students · 341 homes | 341 | 90 | Abraham Erb, then Laurelwood (Grades 7-8) | Abraham Erb, then Laurelwood (Grades 7-8) |
| West of Beaver Creek Rd / Willow Wood Dr: Old Oak Dr, Havendale Cres, Brookmill Cresabout 140 students · 542 homes | 542 | 140 | Laurelwood | Laurelwood |
| Around the school: Laurel Gate Dr, Brentcliffe Dr, Gatestone Blvd, Timbercroft Cres, Chancery Laneabout 210 students · 942 homes | 942 | 210 | Laurelwood | Laurelwood |
Dots are the board’s years; the dashed lines between them are straight lines, not projections. Tap a year to show it on the cards.
Some things nobody knows yet, like the sibling rule or how many families will choose to stay. Six things this can’t know →
As of Oct 24 (Clair Hills West note added Nov 8), before staff’s draft. I’ll update this after Nov 23.
5 · Brian’s view
We’ve been getting emails from worried parents. Their kids just started kindergarten at Vista Hills, and now they could be asked to start over somewhere new. I don’t like moving kids. I think it can hurt their education, pulling them away from their friends and the teachers who know them.
But we do have to balance these schools. My read right now is Scenario 1, because for Columbia Forest it’s the school closer to home. I want to see what staff say about Scenario 2, because I don’t have all the information yet.
My ideal would be that nobody at Vista Hills today has to leave, but that would take about nine years to even out. So I’d push for a middle ground. Right now the board’s plan would let kids going into Grade 8 in 2027 finish at their school. I’d let kids going into Grades 6, 7 and 8 in September 2027 stay until they graduate. If they leave, they don’t come back.
Clair Hills West to Edna Staebler. Both options move Clair Hills West to Edna Staebler, so this happens whichever one the board picks. A parent raised with me that Columbia Street West, the road between Clair Hills West and the school, isn’t a safe road for kids to cross. The board’s report says the City plans a pedestrian crossover at Columbia Street West and St. Moritz Avenue, with construction expected in 2027. I’d want traffic calming in place before that crossover. We also need to open up access to Wilmot Line to take traffic off Columbia Street West; both are needed for our students’ safety. The City’s guidelines protect Wilmot Line’s rural profile, and I think those protections are overbearing. We need to work with our partners at the City of Waterloo, the Region and the Township of Wilmot on both.
Boundary reviews are a fact of life in a region growing like ours. We shouldn’t be surprising families with news that the school their kids have gone to for five years isn’t theirs anymore.
Staff’s analysis of Scenario 2 in the Nov 23 draft, what each option means for buses and child care, and what families tell me.
I’ll decide after reading the Final Report and hearing delegations on Dec 14. I speak for myself, not the board.
6 · Have your say
Say what works for your family. Staff read every comment; it isn’t a vote, and the board is scheduled to decide on December 14.
Send it by Dec 4: the board’s procedure collects and answers comments until 10 days before the meeting. Its review page keeps input open to Dec 6 and its FAQ to Dec 7. To reach staff before their Nov 23 draft, send it before Nov 20.
Feedback formRegister by noon, Dec 9 (three business days before) with your script. The board schedules at most ten speakers a meeting, so register early. How to delegate
brian@best4schoolboard.com. I read everything and raise the themes at the board; I can’t decide individual placements.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 21, 22
On the form, the board asks for “specific information about your neighbourhood and family”, and for any transportation, transition or child care effects. It also uses feedback on siblings, walking routes, local conditions its data can’t show, and possible changes or other options. The Final Report sums up the main themes.
You can also write to the board’s elected members or ask planning staff at planning@wrdsb.ca. Out-of-boundary requests go through the board’s own procedure.
The board hasn’t published answers to these yet. You can ask them on the form or of planning staff.
7 · Quick answers
Under the current plan they may stay: “French immersion students may remain even if the regular boundary changes”, and the board’s projections assume they do. Staying doesn’t guarantee a bus: the board doesn’t bus students outside their home school’s boundary. A student can instead move to the new school if it offers French Immersion in their grade, with a bus if eligible. All four schools have a French Immersion program.
A brother or sister of a French Immersion student may also attend that school. Where Grades 7 and 8 are in another building (Abraham Erb to Laurelwood), the family may need an out-of-boundary request for the sibling.
Except for siblings of French Immersion students (who may attend the French Immersion student’s school), the board hasn’t said yet; the Final Report will explain how sibling provisions apply. Its procedure says “where possible, provide options that allow siblings to attend the same school”. In a 2024 review (New South Kitchener), older students who were allowed to stay “may be allowed to attend the same school as their younger sibling(s)”: they could move with the younger child to the new school instead. A December 2025 review (New Southeast Cambridge) published only the French Immersion sibling rule.
For students going into Grade 8 who stay in 2027-28, yes if they remain eligible. For French Immersion students who stay, not necessarily. Nothing is published for any wider rule, such as letting more grades stay. Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region decides eligibility.
Source: 5
A before- or after-school spot at a new school can’t be guaranteed. Programs in the area are at or near capacity, and the board’s video shows waitlists at all four schools. Edna Staebler’s program is run by the YMCA; the other three are the board’s Extended Day. The YMCA expects to open registration in the new year through OneList.
To the school for your address on the boundary in force when they start: if the board approves a change, the new boundary from September 2027. The published transition rules cover students going into Grade 8, current French Immersion students, and brothers and sisters of French Immersion students, who may attend the French Immersion student’s school. Any wider sibling rule is for the Final Report.
Not at Vista Hills or Laurelwood this year: neither is accepting out-of-boundary requests for 2026-27. The board will look at that again after the review.
Source: 4
Not in this review. School closures, changes to a school’s grades, and changes to where or how French Immersion is offered are all outside its scope.
Source: 1
Method and sources
Board numbers come straight from the board’s own tables. Everything else is our estimate, labelled as ours wherever it appears.
Every board projection on this page comes from its own tables: the September 2026 count (preliminary) and projections for 2027, 2030, 2033 and 2036, with no change[1], under Scenario 1[1] and under Scenario 2[2]. The board rounds to the nearest 5. A percentage is students divided by permanent places; ours match every percentage the board prints. We show board figures only for the years the board publishes.
The board publishes school totals, not counts by neighbourhood or grade. For the explorer we split each school’s figures across 12 neighbourhood blocks. Four are the board’s own: Columbia Forest, Clair Hills West and the two Development Areas[6]. The other lines inside each school’s area are ours. We used 2021 census children[10][16], homes and new homes[12], the grade mix at each school[11], and the student flows the board’s own tables imply. For brothers and sisters we used a model of families fitted to Statistics Canada’s counts for Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo[15]. French Immersion shares come from the board’s Grade 1 class lists[17].
When you pick a rule for who can stay, the Scenario 1 and Scenario 2 cards start from the board’s figure and add or subtract what our model says that rule changes. At the board’s plan, they show the board’s figure exactly. Walking distances are our calculation from the board’s affected addresses[9]. For your own address, the board’s address tool is the authority.
The board has given two counts for Scenario 1: about 200 current students in the Initial Report[1], and about 120 in its video[3]. We use the Initial Report’s, the only one with a breakdown. Separately, each scenario’s four schools add up to a different total from no change (table below); we couldn’t tell why.
Our neighbourhood split also carries a tension we can’t resolve from public figures: it reads the board’s 2027 Scenario 1 table as moving both Grade 7 and Grade 8 out of Columbia Forest, while the cards assume the table already keeps students going into Grade 8 where they are (point 2 above). The cards match the board at its plan either way; the size of a rule’s effect follows the first reading.
Vista Hills opened in 2016. A 2015 review moved Columbia Forest and Clair Hills from Edna Staebler to the new school, and sent Abraham Erb’s Grades 7 and 8 there too; a 2018 review sent those Grades 7 and 8 back to Laurelwood[1].
| School | Option | Permanent places | Sept 2026 (count) | 2027 | 2030 | 2033 | 2036 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vista Hills | No change | 643 | 785 122% | 775 121% | 740 115% | 715 111% | 720 112% |
| Scenario 1 | 643 | 785 122% | 725 113% | 710 110% | 680 106% | 680 106% | |
| Scenario 2 | 643 | 785 122% | 725 113% | 710 110% | 680 106% | 680 106% | |
| Edna Staebler | No change | 720 | 535 74% | 550 76% | 480 67% | 440 61% | 425 59% |
| Scenario 1 | 720 | 535 74% | 480 67% | 390 54% | 350 49% | 340 47% | |
| Scenario 2 | 720 | 535 74% | 575 80% | 485 67% | 450 63% | 440 61% | |
| Abraham Erb | No change | 487 | 400 82% | 370 76% | 330 68% | 380 78% | 390 80% |
| Scenario 1 | 487 | 400 82% | 450 92% | 420 86% | 485 100% | 495 102% | |
| Scenario 2 | 487 | 400 82% | 375 77% | 330 68% | 380 78% | 390 80% | |
| Laurelwood | No change | 550 | 665 121% | 625 114% | 560 102% | 535 97% | 510 93% |
| Scenario 1 | 550 | 665 121% | 675 123% | 590 107% | 560 102% | 540 98% | |
| Scenario 2 | 550 | 665 121% | 625 114% | 560 102% | 535 97% | 510 93% | |
| All four | No change | 2,400 | 2,385 | 2,320 | 2,110 | 2,070 | 2,045 |
| Scenario 1 | 2,400 | 2,385 | 2,330 (+10) | 2,110 (0) | 2,075 (+5) | 2,055 (+10) | |
| Scenario 2 | 2,400 | 2,385 | 2,300 (−20) | 2,085 (−25) | 2,045 (−25) | 2,020 (−25) |
No change: Initial Report Table 2[1]. Scenario 1: Initial Report Table 3[1]. Scenario 2: display boards[2], which have no total row; we added it. Grey percentages (2026 and 2030) are our division; the board prints 2027, 2033 and 2036. In brackets: difference from no change.
Status quo projections (Table 2, p. 13), Scenario 1 and its projections (pp. 14-16), transition and bus notes (p. 17), the board’s summary of Scenario 1 (p. 18), child care (p. 12), background (pp. 6-10).
Bell times and child care (p. 2), status quo, Scenario 1 and Scenario 2 projection tables (pp. 3-5), timeline (p. 6). The only published table for Scenario 2. Read November 7, 2026.
The board’s reasons (2:00-4:40), Scenario 1 (5:38-7:45), Scenario 2 (7:56-9:25), transition rules (9:40-11:11), how to take part (12:30-13:30). Times are minutes:seconds.
Timeline (Phases 1-8), out-of-boundary requests, links to the maps and feedback form. Last changed by the board October 28, 2026; read November 7, 2026.
Grade 8 and French Immersion rules, buses, child care, bell times, feedback and delegation dates. Last changed by the board October 22, 2026; read November 7, 2026.
The board’s map layers for today’s boundaries and both scenarios. Read November 7, 2026. Scenario 2 moves exactly the same streets as Scenario 1 (our comparison of the two layers).
Section 2.4: comments are “responded to until 10 days before” the board meeting. Schedule A, section 3: transitions and siblings.
A 2024 boundary review. Its sibling note is on PDF page 28 (report page 26).
Every address point the board’s map flags in Columbia Forest, Clair Hills West and the two Development Areas, by the shortest path on OpenStreetMap roads and footpaths (© OpenStreetMap contributors) to each school. Medians. Addresses, not students; no judgement about crossings or bus eligibility. October 24, 2026.
Children by age and homes in the 18 census areas that overlap the four schools, and how many people moved in a year (8% in the area’s settled neighbourhoods). Read November 7, 2026.
October 31 headcounts, rounded to 5, French Immersion and English together. 2024-25 is the latest the Ministry has posted. Used for the grade mix.
Homes in each neighbourhood block, including new homes in the Development Areas. Permits to September 30, 2026; addresses read November 7, 2026.
How we split each school’s board figures across 12 neighbourhood blocks, and what a who-can-stay rule changes. Method on this page.
A December 2025 boundary review. Its transition rules have a Grade 8 exception and the French Immersion sibling rule (PDF page 33), and no general sibling rule.
What our brothers-and-sisters model is fitted to. Read November 7, 2026.
Used to age 2021 census children to their September 2027 grade.
French Immersion starts in Grade 2 from September 2024; Grade 1 French Immersion class lists from the 2019, 2020 and 2022 reports. Used to estimate how many students are in French Immersion.
The board’s printed maps of the three options.
Staff on Scenario 1: about 200 students, “just who is in the area currently”.
The explorer’s base map. Contains information licensed under the City of Waterloo Open Data Licence.
Register by noon three business days before the meeting, with your full script; at most ten delegates a meeting, except at a special delegation meeting the board may hold for matters such as accommodation reviews. Read November 8, 2026.
“November 15, 2026 – 2026-2030 Term of Office commences”; “November 16, 2026 – Inaugural Board Meeting”. Read November 8, 2026.
Columbia Street West is a “Collector Road” (a City road); “Wilmot Line is a Township of Wilmot road, with a rural profile that needs to be protected”; Erb Street West is a Regional road (PDF pp. 5, 42-44). Read November 8, 2026.
PDF page numbers are the page a PDF reader shows. Video times are minutes:seconds.
This page isn’t a board tool, and nothing on it is a board decision. Page updated Nov 8, 2026; figures version 2026-11-08.