The Catholic school board says increased need is behind a push to get a Catholic high school built in Fergus and adding it to an existing elementary school might be a way of getting it built sooner.
The Wellington Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) wants to add space to St. Joseph Catholic School in Fergus to make it a kindergarten to Grade 12 school. It is one of three capital priorities requests the board has submitted to the Ministry of Education.
The high school would be attached to the existing elementary school.
Details were outlined at a board meeting Monday.
The school as it stands is kindergarten to Grade 8. There is no Catholic high school in Fergus.
The addition of the secondary school would accommodate 492 Grade 9 to Grade 12 students, said a report. It would have 21 spaces and include; 11 classrooms, four technical/vocational rooms, three science labs, two music and art rooms, and one special education resource room, as outlined in the report.
“We're not asking for a stand-alone high school on a separate piece of property. And so we felt it was a compelling business case to put forward to the ministry in terms of feasibility,” said Tracy McLennan, associate director corporate services and treasurer for WCDSB, in an interview.
The submission is not new. It was previously part of capital request along with the St. Joseph's elementary addition. Unsuccessful, the board separated the two plans and the elementary request was granted last year.
The need for additional classrooms to the elementary school itself as well as the addition of Grade 9 to 12 were submitted again, but separately.
“As trustees are aware in the last round of the capital priorities we were successful and very grateful to the Ministry of Education providing funding for an eight classroom addition at St. Joseph Catholic School. So it's an elementary addition,” McLennan said during the board meeting.
The project is going out to tender this week, she said. The reason why this project was approved is because the school is currently at 143 per cent of capacity, McLennan said.
“We’re projected for that school to continue to grow,” she said in the meeting.
“When we did our last long-term accommodation plan (LTAP) we actually had input from the community this came forward at … that point, McLennan said in an interview.
The long-term accommodation plan sets out enrolment projections from 2020 to 2025. The plan is in the middle of being updated and instead of a five-year plan there will be an annual review, said McLennan.
In the LTAP the projected enrolment for 2025 at St. Joseph's is 451 students, but the school is already at 480 students, according to its website.
The request for a high school is the second of three capital requests submitted to the province.
First is a new elementary school in Drayton to accommodate 222 students. It would include two full-time kindergarten classes, seven regular classrooms, and one special education resource room, outlined in the report. This request includes 64 childcare spaces. It would be part of the school and include one infant room, two toddler rooms, and one toddler room, said in the report.
The third submission is an addition to Sacred Heart Catholic School in Rockwood of two regular classrooms and one kindergarten room to accommodate 72 students, said in the report.
“And we're hopeful that the ministry will provide funding for these projects, at least one of them as we move forward,” McLennan said during Monday's meeting.
“These capital requests acknowledge the growth within our district. Opportunities to meet the need for childcare spaces in our region and additional student spaces, where we are experiencing high growth, are critical to those communities,” said Vikki Dupuis, WCDSB chair, in an email statement.
