A replacement for Banting Memorial High School is at the top, but a new secondary school for the Collingwood/Stayner/Wasaga Beach area has also made the school board's priority list for new projects.
While it's undecided where the possible new school would be built, there's one group pushing for it to be in Wasaga Beach.
During the Apr. 28 Simcoe County District School Board meeting, trustees were presented with the ranked capital priorities list that will be presented to the province ahead of the May 21 deadline to submit as part of the 2021-2022 Capital Plan.
“Developing this year’s list came with its own set of challenges. As you know, we have pressing accommodation needs in many of our communities,” said Brian Jeffs, superintendent of business and facility services.
The capital projects approved by the public board for the next three-year cycle, ranked, are as follows:
- Banting Memorial High School (Replacement school)
- Killarney Beach Public School (Addition)
- New Angus elementary school (Growth accommodation)
- New Alcona elementary school (Growth accommodation)
- New Alliston elementary school (Growth accommodation)
- New Barrie Southwest elementary school (Growth accommodation)
- New Barrie Southeast elementary school (Growth accommodation)
- New Bradford secondary school (Growth accommodation)
- New Orillia elementary school (Growth accommodation)
- Northwest Simcoe secondary schools (Growth accommodation)
As part of the staff report, senior staff pointed to the Northwest Simcoe secondary school item as serving the Township of Clearview, Town of Collingwood, and Town of Wasaga Beach areas, and noted that any project that would be approved would need to service all three areas.
The report also addressed concerns that Collingwood Collegiate Institute is approaching “critical” need.
“It is staff’s recommendation to include Northwest Simcoe secondary schools... in order to indicate to the (Ministry of Education) the significance of Collingwood Collegiate Institute’s facility condition,” notes the report.
“The situation (in that area) is not dire,” said Jeffs during Wednesday night’s meeting.
As the two oldest secondary schools board-wide, Banting opened in 1949, while CCI followed four years later.
Leslie Farkas and Melanie Case presented to the board Wednesday night representing the group Beach Family Alliance, urging trustees to consider adding a Wasaga Beach secondary school to the list on its own.
Adjala-Tosorontio/Clearview/CFB Borden/Essa trustee Robert North asked Farkas and Case if they thought it was a fair process to insert Wasaga Beach’s name in the list given that any decision would have a significant impact on Collingwood or Stayner, who didn’t have representatives attend the meeting.
“In my opinion, I think it’s fair. Collingwood has just announced a moratorium on new builds and building permits, so technically that would kind of cut them out of the list for this year to begin with,” said Farkas.
The moratorium, passed at Collingwood council on Monday night, is an interim control bylaw in place for one year, with an option to extend for two years, or lift the ban early. It means the town will not issue new building permits during that time while it works on updating planning policies and while the town works to expand its water treatment plant capacity.
Public school board staff first presented the unranked list of their top priorities at their Feb. 3 business and facilities standing committee meeting. To read our full story about that meeting, click here.
“I think it is critically important, as Simcoe County District School Board trustees, that we are all out supporting the needs of all of our schools and students,” said Board Chair and Orillia/Ramara/Severn trustee Jodi Lloyd. “These capital priorities benefit all of our students and they are all required or we would not be submitting 10 capital cases.”
“It’s critically important they all be assessed based on their merits, needs and business cases and that the funding be allocated equitably and fairly based upon those needs. I know we had an issue last time in our capital priorities, but this should not pit community against community,” she said.
In July 2020, the province announced its first round of funding for school capital projects, for 2019/2020. Through that announcement, the public school board would receive $13.4 million for a new 593-pupil elementary school in south Bradford West Gwillimbury (which had been ranked No. 1 on the board’s priority list) and $5.8 million for a new facility to replace Shanty Bay Public School (which had been ranked No. 10). In an October 2020 announcement, the province announced an additional $5.4 million for a growth addition for Lake Simcoe Public School (it had been ranked No. 3).
The announcement in July came with some controversy, as it didn’t align with the capital priority list previously approved by the public school board.
On Wednesday night, trustees voted unanimously to approve the ranked list as recommended by staff.
Now that trustees have approved the ranked list, board staff will prepare business cases for each project to present to the province. The province will make its own determination of which schools receive funding, based on business cases as well as other factors.
The province has said $550 million will be up for grabs province-wide through this round of capital priority funding. It is anticipated the province will announce which schools will be funded in August or September.
