Thinking of moving your young family to Prince Edward County? Planning on your kids taking university prep level courses? You may want to re-think your move unless you are prepared to provide private daily transportation to a Belleville or Trenton school that has the capability of delivering a quality education to your child because Prince Edward Collegiate in Picton habitually fails to deliver access to upper level courses.
Prince Edward Collegiate was never noted as a hotbed of academic excellence, but it now annually plumbs new lows when it comes to offering academic courses at the university prep level. Unfortunately for residents of the southern 75% of the county, PECI is the only secondary school option available with board funded transportation.
As early as the grade 10 level students who wish to combine academic subjects as basic as geography, history, or computer science with university level math, science and English are routinely denied these courses and shunted into community college level business courses, Phys. Ed, or fine arts programs.
For unexplained reasons, the school arranges university prep level courses so that a majority are taught in only one of the 2 semesters which results in many students having to take courses which do not further their educational ambitions. Staff seem more concerned with filling unpopular arts courses to their allotted levels than with delivering the educational products their students are entitled to.
PECI's student body has now diminished to roughly 600 souls spread across all grades. No doubt there are challenges involved in providing opportunities for such a small student population, but those challenges are not currently being met.