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Upper Grand moves again on new south end high school

Projected spikes in enrolment impetus behind proposal
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Property on the northwest corner of the intersection of Arkell and Victoria roads has been secured by Upper Grand District School Board for a proposed new high school.

Upper Grand District School Board trustees will vote Tuesday on a new business case to build a 1,200 pupil high school in Guelph’s south end. A similar proposal last year was not approved by the province.

The impetus behind the new school is to address projected high school enrolment pressure in the city, Heather Loney, the school board’s communications and community engagement officer said Monday in an e-mail.

The location of the new school would be on the northwest corner of the intersection of Arkell and Victoria roads, on land that is currently agricultural. Upper Grand purchased through expropriation about seven hectares of the land last year.

It is on the eastern boundary of the city, in an area that has in recent years seen rapid residential development. Other proposed residential developments are coming.  

While Upper Grand has not built a new high school in Guelph for several decades, the board believes that population growth and projected secondary enrolment increases in the city warrant a new one.

“This is the third year that staff is recommending the Board pursue funding for the high school in the city's south end,” Loney wrote. “The project was not considered for Capital Priorities funding last year due to a lack of an immediate need as identified by the Ministry.”

Loney said secondary enrolment is expected to increase by 18 per cent over roughly the next ten years. During this school year, she added, there was a deficiency of more than 400 secondary pupil places in Guelph. That number is expected to increase to 800 pupils by 2019, and 1,200 by 2023, as increasing numbers of elementary students enter high school. Those numbers will keep growing beyond 2023.

Loney added that there is limited space for portable classrooms at John F. Ross Collegiate Vocational Institution and at Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institution. The board cannot make up the shortfall by using portable accommodation, she added.

The push to identify the project as a capital priority is a proactive move on the part of Upper Grand, given that completing and opening a new school can take up to three years, she indicated.


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Rob O'Flanagan

About the Author: Rob O'Flanagan

Rob O’Flanagan has been a newspaper reporter, photojournalist and columnist for over twenty years. He has won numerous Ontario Newspaper Awards and a National Newspaper Award.
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