Orillia boasts modern schools

Over the past five years, thanks to funding from the Ministry of Education, the Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB) has pumped almost $45-million into the local economy as it aggressively updated and upgraded its presence in Orillia.

And that was just the beginning. In mid-January, it was announced another $27.5 million will be invested to build a new high school, which is just what the community needs, says Orillia area trustee Debra Edwards.

“I feel like we’ve won the lottery. We’re very grateful we’re the recipients of a very small provincial capital-funding pot,” Edwards said after the long-anticipated decision was announced.

Four years ago, an accommodation review committee (ARC) recommended amalgamating Park Street Collegiate Institute and Orillia District Collegiate and Vocational Institute (ODCVI). The aging schools have become, at best, fading investments. Renewal was called for.

“It’s critically important to invest in schools – like it is for any infrastructure,” said Edwards. “The quality of environment that students learn in contributes very much to the teaching and learning that goes on in our community.”

According to population trends, there will be fewer students – and fewer classrooms needed – in the future. Currently, ODCVI has 849 students and operates at 91% capacity. Park Street has 743 students in a school that can accommodate 954, while Twin Lakes has 849 students in a building that can accommodate 966 pupils.

As a result, the board made building one new, larger high school on the Park Street site its top priority and had been awaiting funding to proceed with their plan. The new school, according to SCDSB officials, will open in September of 2015.

“This community has been very patient and worked very hard to make this happen,” said Lloyd, SCDSB trustee for Severn, Ramara and Tay townships. “Though it’s taken us a while to get the money, certainly, the end result will be very worth it.”

When it comes to elementary schools, patience proved a virtue in Orillia. The SCDSB’s massive investment over the past four years featured the construction of the city’s first new elementary school in almost three decades and extensive renovations at other area schools.

Lions Oval Public School, opened in 2010 with a price tag of $11.9-million, was the first new SCDSB school constructed in Orillia since Orchard Park Public School was built in the 1970s.

“The last real infusion of cash into schools in Orillia was in the 1970s when Twin Lakes Secondary School and Orchard Park were built,” Edwards said. “During the ’80s and ’90s, almost no money was spent and we had too many students in portables and we had schools like Harriett Todd Public School that had classrooms with no windows… our schools really needed attention.”

That is no longer the case. Harriett Todd underwent a massive $10-million renovation in 2011. In 2009, $2.7-million was spent at Couchiching Heights Public School, and a $10-million makeover and addition happened at Regent Park Public School in 2008.

“Our stock of community-based schools was older, but now, across the whole of the county, you are starting to see the significant impact of the funding we have received,” said John Dance, the SCDSB’s superintendent of facility services. “We have been very active… to right-size our stable of schools going forward.”

Dance said the goal is to achieve 85% utilization of its schools; that would mean class sizes fall within ministry of education guidelines and allow room for future growth.

“The good news is we’ve invested almost $50-million over the past five years and the entire city has benefited in many ways,” Edwards said, noting the city bought the sites of three former schools and is developing them in various ways.

The Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board (SMCDSB) has also made a substantial investment in local schools in recent years. After renovating Patrick Fogarty Catholic Secondary School and Foley Public School (Brechin) in 2006, the board turned its attention to three aging elementary schools in Orillia: St. Bernard’s, Guardian Angels and Monsignor Lee.

“We identified (those) three elementary schools as being prohibitive to repair,” said Glenn Clarke, the SMCDSB’s Controller of Plant. “Basically, this means that it would be more cost effective to replace and rebuild than to just fix up the old facilities.”

With that in mind, the SMCDSB initiated a Pupil Accommodation Review process which included comprehensive community consultation on the Catholic elementary school needs in Orillia.  

“This process concluded in November 2009 with the decision to replace St Bernard's and consolidate Monsignor Lee and Guardian Angels into one school at the Monsignor Lee site,” Clarke said. The Guardian Angels school building was owned by the board; the Catholic church of the same name owned the property and will determine what to do with that piece of land adjacent to its church.

In November of 2011, the new $10.9-million St. Bernard’s opened to students, reinvigorating the school and its surrounding community. With a capacity for 378 students, the school currently has 250 pupils – and lots of room to grow.

The two-storey 45,000-square-foot school on a 4.5-acre site on Oxford Street has been a big hit with students, said principal Rich Foshay.

"I think any time a child is proud of where they spend a lot of time, it comes out in their engagement in their learning,” Foshay said when the school opened. “We are seeing a lot of positive engagement."

The new school replaces a tired, outdated building, Foshay said, noting St. Bernard’s received a $1.1-million grant to install geothermal and solar heating systems, catapulting the school into a new, green era.

"It has huge advantages, environmentally, and huge advantages from a technological standpoint," said Foshay.

In December, the new $10.5-million Monsignor Lee facility opened – much to the delight of its 321 students. The new 41,500-square foot school has 11 classrooms, a special-needs room, a resource room, a gymnasium, library, chapel and four rooms for kindergarten students.

“We have taken three aging schools and replaced them with two new schools that are vastly improved educational facilities for our students,” Clarke said. “We have upgraded, updated library space, classrooms that meet program needs and, overall, just a better learning environment.”

In addition, with the provincial government’s move to full-day kindergarten, there was extra money available to ensure those future needs can be met at the new schools, Clarke noted.

“There will be full-day kindergarten at Monsignor Lee so the classes there are larger to accommodate the teacher/student ratios that are mandated by the government,” he said.

In addition, special needs facilities and accessibility have been vastly improved at all the new schools.

“The special needs area at St. Bernard’s wasn’t much bigger than a closet,” Clarke said. “We had leaking roofs, washrooms that weren’t efficient… today we are very pleased to say that, with ministry support, we have great facilities in the City of Orillia.”

That’s music to the ears of Dan Landry, the city’s manager of economic development.

“One of the first things prospective employers ask about is schools,” Landry said of businesses considering a move to the Sunshine City. “We’ve been very proud to tell them about Georgian College and Lakehead University – two first-class post-secondary institutions in our city. Now, we can also be confident in telling them that we have the most modern schools possible.”

-With files from The Packet & Times

FACTBOX:
The Simcoe County District School Board has invested in Orillia area schools over the past five years:
2008: Regent Park Public School - $10 million
2009: Couchiching Heights Public School - $2.7 million
2010: Lions Oval Public School - $11.9 million
2011: Harriett Todd Public School - $10 million
2012: Orchard Park Public School - $1.4 million
2008-2012: Twin Lakes Secondary School - $7.3 million
2012: Orillia Alternative School – $42,000 annually in rent and other costs
2010-12: Park Street Collegiate Institute - $200,000

The Simcoe Muskoka District Catholic School Board has invested in Orillia area schools over the past two years in addition to large capital investments in 2006 at Patrick Fogarty Catholic Secondary School and Foley Public School in Brechin:
2011: St. Bernard’s Catholic Elementary School - $10.9 million
2012: Monsignor Lee Catholic Elementary School - $10.4 million