Orillia is one step closer to getting a new elementary school.
Simcoe County District School Board trustees approved a list of capital priorities at this week’s business and facilities standing committee meeting, and a new school for west Orillia made the cut. The decision has to be approved at the regular board meeting later this month.
“It will make a lot of people happy,” said Jodi Lloyd, trustee for Orillia and Ramara.
It might not make everyone happy, though. If the Ministry of Education approves the project, it will require an attendance area review that will almost certainly require some students to attend different schools.
For years, local trustees have been wanting to see a new elementary school built in west Orillia, but it was easier said than done.
“We had to wait until we could build a viable business case,” Lloyd explained, adding that involved gathering enrolment numbers and other data to support the recommendation.
The need for a new school isn’t only a result of population growth in the west end.
“It’s growth in the whole area — in Orillia, in Oro, in Severn,” Lloyd said. “We have to determine where we put a school to support that area.”
The board is projecting significant growth in the area, which will put a strain on some schools. For example, by 2028, Warminster Elementary School is expected to be at 155 per cent capacity, while Severn Shores Public School will be at 136 per cent.
The province wants school boards to submit their capital plans by the fall.
Just because the board wants a new school doesn’t mean it will get it, but Lloyd is confident.
“Our board is the most successful board in the province for securing capital funding,” she said. “At least it’s been identified. We have the numbers to support a school.”
She hopes it doesn’t take as long as it did for Orillia to get a new high school.
“That was a long, arduous wait,” Lloyd said of getting funding to build Orillia Secondary School.
She feels there were a number of factors that led to the long wait.
“It was in the early stages of the real, solid investment in capital by the ministry,” she said, adding it was also “a novel suggestion” at the time to close two existing schools and build a new one.
The list of capital priorities has a major focus on the south end of the county. That makes sense, Lloyd said, given the rapid population growth in that area.
“That said, we’re not forgetting the needs in the rest of the county,” she said. “Quite often, you hear comments that the south gets all the money. It’s significant that we’re seeing growth in our own area and we’ve identified a capital priority for this area.”
It’s up to the ministry to decide if, and when, Orillia will get a new school, but Lloyd hopes to get the funding within a couple of years.
