‘Critical priority’: Bradford Council calls for new high school

School may be out for the summer, but Bradford council and staff are still doing their homework on the need for more student spaces in the city.

The board unanimously passed a motion June 18 pledging support for the Simcoe County District School Board’s (SCDSB) planned funding submission for a new high school in the city and directed staff to help find a suitable location, develop a plan to share school facilities and expedite planning. approvals.

According to the motion, the school board is looking for an 8.1-hectare (20-acre) site that is “affordable and immediately developable” and plans to apply for capital funding to the Ministry of Education “in the near future” to develop the new facility.

“We desperately need a second public high school in Bradford,” Coun. Jonathan Scott said.

In mid-May, councilors met with York-Simcoe MP Caroline Mulroney and former education minister Stephen Lecce, who, along with local SCDSB administrator Debbie Connors, pledged to “really push” the province to finance the project, according to Scott.

“Securing the second public high school is just a critical priority,” he said.

Scott pointed to ongoing construction at Bradford District High School (BDHS) to build more portables beyond the current nine in an effort to expand the school’s student population.

“It’s truly one of the most overcrowded public high schools in Ontario,” he said.

A report from the council’s business and facilities standing committee meeting on April 3 lists a new high school in Bradford as one of five secondary school projects proposed for future capital funding submissions.

The new school is proposed to house 1,168 students, and as of 2023 BDHS was listed as having 1,314 students, which puts it at 118% of its capacity of 1,113 students.

Mayor James Leduc called it “amazing” to see so many students in the school and in Condado. Joseph Giordano warned of more to come as the city’s elementary schools “are bursting at the seams.”

“We have to consider everything when it comes to schools for our children,” he said.

The same board report in April showed that in 2023, the city’s eight public elementary schools were between 77 percent capacity at Sir William Osler Public School and 157 percent at Fieldcrest Elementary School, with an average of 92 percent.

The city’s two newest public elementary schools, Harvest Hills Public School and Marshview Public School, were reported at 115 percent and 102 percent, respectively.

This is not the first time the council has pushed for more classroom space in the city and follows a motion by Scott passed at the Dec. 5 regular council meeting, in which the council approved the need for a new public high school and at least two new elementary schools — both of which should have significant child care spaces — and that school boards continue to work with city staff to find suitable sites for the schools.

Efforts to find locations could fall under the scope of ongoing work on the city’s growth management plan, for which the first public engagement meeting was held June 25.

Meanwhile, the city already received good news regarding local schools in mid-May when Mulroney attended the other of the city’s two high schools, Holy Trinity Catholic High School from the Holy Trinity Catholic Board, Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, to announce $6.8 million in funding for two high schools. -storey extension to the east side of the existing building, estimated to accommodate the addition of 276 pupils to the current school population of approximately 1,044.

June’s motion also calls for a copy and letter of support to be sent to Mulroney and current Education Minister Todd Smith, “outlining the urgent need” for a second public high school in Bradford.