Upper Grand District School Board has purchased a school site south of Princess of Wales Park, with the view of possibly needing a new elementary school there following an accommodation review scheduled for 2012.

To raise capital for the purchase, the Board has sole the Learning Enterprise property on Diane Drive, and is moving that facility to the administration offices on Amelia Street.

In other property transactions, it has flipped ownership of the Tony Rose arena land to the Town of Orangeville, in exchange for a Townowned "plantation strip" running from Amelia "right through the centre of ODSS," Board chairman Bob Borden said in a phone interview Tuesday.

The Learning Centre will have a number of portable classrooms on the existing Amelia parking lot, a couple of which are already there, and there'll be a staff parking lot created on the south of the administration building.

Mr. Borden envisioned no further construction to the south as, he said, the Town had purchased Board property to maintain it as permanent parkland following discussions that had led to residential concerns about possible development last spring.

With respect to accommodations, Mr. Borden said the Early Years learning program, along with "pockets of development," is putting significant pressure on school boards.

At the same time, there's declining enrolment in some areas. "There is growth in Orangeville and Shelburne but not much in the rest of Dufferin."

Where there is growth, it's not always close to schools with available classroom space.

He mentioned Credit Meadows as an example. "Credit Meadows is in good shape right now but, with the extension of Hansen Blvd., (there are new pressures to come)."

To overcome the need for school construction, he said there might be a need for boundary changes when there's growth in one area and a decline in an adjacent one.

The situation at Princess of Wales Park is such that there might be 200 kids available for a new school. "We need 400 to 450 (to justify construction)."

Meantime, Montgomery Public School is at the verge of being stressed, partly because of the emergence of Early Years learning.

Mr. Borden didn't disagree with a suggestion that school boards are facing "a logistical nightmare."