‘Resubmitted at the next opportunity’: What’s the latest with the proposed east Waterdown school?
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The Hamilton-Wentworth Borough School Board presented a business case for the construction of a Junior Nursery School at Year 8 Primary School in East Waterdown, south of Dundas Street East, in both Spring 2021 and Spring 2022, but the proposal was rejected by the Department not approved education either way.
So what’s the status of the project?
Shawn McKillop, communications and community engagement manager at HWDSB, said in an email the Department of Education hasn’t announced when school boards can resubmit their fund priorities.
“The business case will be updated and presented again at the next opportunity,” he said.
HOW DOES THE PROCESS WORK?
According to McKillop, the school board is able to submit 10 of the most urgent capital projects each year, which it seeks Department approval to complete.
The ministry evaluates the proposed projects and, if approved, announces funding.
WHAT WILL THE NEW SCHOOL LOOK LIKE?
The new school, which McKillop said is facing short- and long-term housing pressures from housing growth, has a capacity of 550 students with childcare.
McKillop said the budget for the school is expected to be between $13 million and $13.5 million, including construction and other costs such as consultants and permits. He pointed out that the costs could differ or increase from the previous allocation.
The proposed campus is approximately five acres and is located at the intersection of Skinner Road and Mallard Trail, a site the Board purchased in 2021.
McKillop said the school would ease the pressure on Mary Hopkins Elementary School, which is expected to “grow well beyond its ability to accommodate students within its attendance limit.”
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE BOARD LAST SUBMITTED?
The public school board submitted three projects when the funding window last opened – including the East Waterdown School – and none of them received funding.
Former Ward 15 HWDSB Trustee Penny Deathe told the Review in May 2022 it was “frustrating” not to get any of the projects approved.
She said at the time the board submitted three projects – a grammar school extension at Rousseau Elementary School in Ancaster, a primary school to replace Hess Street and Strathcona on the former site of Sir John A. Macdonald and the new East Waterdown School – and it not done received no funding.
She said the rejection is particularly discouraging because it extends the timeframe for a new school in East Waterdown, as it will likely take three or four years to build a school once funding is approved.