Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB) trustees are standing firm in their plan to build a new school in the south end of Barrie despite an ongoing dispute with the city that’s holding up construction.
The board published an open letter on Friday saying the proposal as submitted to the city best meets the needs of parents and students.
The issue councillors had with the school is its proposed location. City planners want it built near the Mapleview Drive and Prince William Way intersection, but the school board had proposed building the school farther south on the property, away from the intersection and near a future subdivision.
Trustees are also rejecting calls from a parents group who suggested a senior board staffer should be fired over the issue.
“Staff are doing what they’re supposed to do, they’re doing their jobs and it’s unfair for anyone to suggest that heads should roll just because things aren’t working out the way they would like to see,” says SCDSB Chair Peter Beacock.
Barrie’s mayor is standing by the city’s decision earlier this week.
“I trust the school board will work to accommodate students as best they can, I said back at the start of this year that I wanted us to expedite this approval but on this one issue there just hasn’t been any flexibility from board staff and we need to see it get moving,” said Barrie mayor Jeff Lehman.
Without the location approval from the city’s planning department, the board can’t start building the school.
The school was scheduled to be open in 2016 but it is expected to be at least fall of 2018 before it actually opens.
An open letter to the residents of Barrie and area from the SCDSB
In 2010, the Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB) identified the need to review the shifting student population in the City of Barrie and a Pupil Accommodation Review (ARC) was initiated. The ARC clearly indicated the need for a secondary school in the south end of the city, and the Ministry of Education concurred, announcing over $26-million in funding for the project in January 2013. There is a clear and defined need for a new secondary school in the south end of Barrie to support its growing population. Following the direction of the Board, the SCDSB’s staff have been working diligently to secure the land, develop a design and finalize a site plan for the school in the hopes of completing the school, originally in 2016, now for 2018.
As a Board of Trustees, our role is to make decisions that we believe are in the best interests of our students, and that are based on sound evidence, information and practices. Trustees have a duty to ensure the safety and well-being of our students at all times. We trust the SCDSB staff implicitly. It is through their expertise and guidance that trustees make their decisions.
The SCDSB staff have worked diligently with their counterparts at the City of Barrie to come to a resolution on the site plan for the new school. Our staff recognize that the school location was not changed to fully reflect the city’s Urban Design Guidelines, however, it is our position that the site plan we submitted for approval to the City of Barrie will best meet the needs of our students and their families. On Page 1 of the Urban Design Guidelines, it is clearly stated that they “are intended to be flexible. They are not intended to prescribe specific design solutions but rather to express the preferred design objectives of the City…A successful development will achieve the City’s vision while meeting the individual needs of the proponent.” Our staff and the project’s architects and consultants are experts in assessing school sites and identifying potential safety challenges and solutions to those challenges. The building location suggested by the City of Barrie, based on the Urban Design Guidelines, does not meet the needs of the students of south Barrie. In fact, it presents serious safety concerns.
The Board of Trustees have, and continue to support the SCDSB staff as they move forward with the plan for the South Barrie Secondary School. Staff, using their expertise, are acting on decisions made by the Board of Trustees as they are required to do, keeping trustees informed appropriately. We are appalled that some members of the public have defamed some of our staff’s reputations. It is imperative that members of the public understand that board staff are carrying out directions of the Board of Trustees and stop personalizing this situation.
It is interesting to note that when the funding for the south Barrie secondary school was announced, the SCDSB received funding for two other new schools. The first, Chris Hadfield Public School in Bradford, is scheduled to open by the end of 2015. The second, Orillia Secondary School, will open in early 2016. It is unfortunate that we will not be in a position to celebrate the opening of a new secondary school in Barrie in 2016 as well. We hope that the City of Barrie, its staff and council will work with the SCDSB Board of Trustees and staff to support us as we build a school that fully considers the best interests, including the safety, of our students. Let’s work together to get shovels in the ground for this facility in Barrie’s south end that will meet the needs of our students and their families, for now and for the future.
Peter Beacock
Chair, Simcoe County District School Board
