Board seeking input on building new Holy Name School
By Bill Rea

York Catholic District School Board officials are making plans for the replacement of Holy Name Catholic School in King City.

They are currently seeking input from the public on where it should go, and that was one of the reasons for holding a community open house last week at the school.

The current facility has maintenance issues, and while board officials stressed there are no safety concerns, it has been determined the cost of bringing everything up to standards would be high, and the school has been deemed "prohibited to repair" by the Ministry of Education. Based on that, funding for a replacement facility with 264 pupil places has been approved by the ministry.

"There's nothing wrong with the building right now," commented Trustee Elizabeth Crowe, chair of the board and King's representative. She explained it's been determined that the cost of fixing everything up would amount to at least 60 per cent of the cost of a new building.

But she added they will probably need something larger than what the ministry has indicated it's ready to fund so far. Crowe observed the growth slated for the King City area, and said they are looking at a new school that would be able to handle about 500 students.

Two sites are being considered for the school. One is the existing location, on the south side of King Road, between Jane and Keele Streets. The other is a plot of land in the proposed King City East development.

A local review committee was established in January, with representation from board staff and the school council.

Assuming there are no serious objections from the community, Crowe said a recommendation on which site to build on will go to the board, likely in April. If trustees approve, she said the board will actively petition the province for the money to build a bigger school. She said the business case for the bigger facility has already been submitted, but they haven't heard back from the government yet.

Crowe said she hadn't yet heard of any serious opposition, adding the school council is in support of relocation.

One concern that she said has been expressed is the new school is not centrally located in the village. Crowe added there's not a lot that can be done about that. "The location they wanted, there's no land available,' she observed.

Advantages and disadvantages to both sites were listed on display boards at last week's session.

Traffic has been a major concern around the existing school for years. The fact it's on a Regional road, with no left-turn lane in front to assist cars getting in was cited as one of the disadvantages. As well, there's no pedestrian access, so all students have to be bused to school. Crowe said the board tried to work with York Region to get a leftturn lane installed there, without success. "That wouldn't really solve the problem," she observed.

As well, she pointed out the current site has limited playing field facilities, while the other proposed location would be next to a park.

As far as the timelines are concerned, Crowe said she's telling people the new school should be ready for the fall of 2010, although she stated the ministry has indicated it would like to see it open a year earlier. "We don't think that 2009 is truly feasible," she commented.

Cosetta Di Luch, a member of the school council, pointed to other problems with the existing site, including the topography, which can make supervision at recess awkward, and the lack of natural light in some of the classrooms.

"It's a dated building," she remarked. "It's a 40- year-old building."

"It would be nice to be in a new facility," she observed, adding the latest recommendations support relocation. "We have recommended the new location, pending the support of the community at this public meeting."

Di Luch said the public feedback had been positive, although she agreed some parents have been more skeptical than others.

"I think schools are different from any other facility," commented Tom Pechkovsky, manager of planning services for the board. "You're talking about people's children."

Pechkovsky added some people might not want to see the school site change. "It's been a long-standing icon in the community," he observed.

Despite those concerns, he said people seemed to be reasonable and educated on the topic.