St. Mary's College goes to MUSH

Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board trustees, at Wednesday’s board meeting, were informed construction of the new St. Mary’s College, on Second Line East, is on budget and on schedule.

“The Ministry (of Education) folks are quite impressed with the progress of construction,” said John Stadnyk, HSCDSB director of education.

The building is now fully enclosed and windows installed, with a great deal of interior painting and other work going on.

The school is designed for 1,450 students.

Board officials estimate 1,200 students will attend when the school opens in September 2015.

The province put aside $41.5 million for the new school.

The board is currently conducting a fundraising campaign with a view to raise $4 million for a 500-seat theatre, a rubberized track and artificial turf field for the new facility, items not included in the province's $41.5 million construction allowance.

The existing St. Mary’s College, on Wellington Street East, as it prepares to turn out its last graduating class in June, has been officially declared surplus property by the board.

In keeping with Ministry regulations, the board is currently in the middle of a 90-day period in which the MUSH sector (municipalities, universities, school boards and hospitals) may express interest in the property.

After 90 days, the private sector can express interest.

“We’ve had some inquires and some discussions (about a new use for the old St. Mary’s College),” Stadnyk said, speaking to SooToday, but did not go into specific detail.

The Holy Angels Learning Centre will remain open for the time being.

“We haven’t declared that surplus yet, we’ll probably be using the site for our alternative programs until we can establish alternate sites for them.”

“Some of the students in those programs will be in co-ops or field schools, and so much of our energy is going into the planning for the move into our new school that we want to give it (Holy Angels) time for our alternative school, so it’s possible it could be deemed surplus in the future.”

“The transition between St. Mary’s College and St. Basil Secondary (to merge as one school community at the new St. Mary’s College in September) is going well,” Stadnyk said.

The teachers and the department heads have been working all year, the athletic departments are planning the transition into one set of teams…we have a transition committee that‘s been meeting monthly, more than monthly, with a whole list of agendas to ensure everything is well-planned for the transition into the new building.”

Stadnyk said there could be some “right-sizing” (jobs lost for teachers and other staff) when the new school opens.

“We’re not definite what the effect will be yet, we’re hoping it’s minimal.”

Meanwhile, the job of transforming St. Basil Secondary on St. Georges Avenue East into a JK-8 school, beginning in September 2016, continues.

That site will be a consolidation of four schools (St. Ann, St. Bernadette, St. Pius X and St. Theresa) into one elementary school.

There is a funding application in place from the board to the ministry for $2.75 million for costs associated with transforming the building into one large elementary school.

An additional $1.2 million is being requested from the province for demolition of the original section of the school, the former Notre Dame des Grands Lacs (French language board) wing of the building.    

Stadnyk said once funding is received from the ministry (late March or April), a committee will look into renaming St. Basil.   

The school, after consolidation, is projected to have space for 500 elementary level students.

Trustees also voted to adopt a new concussion protocol and the full text of a release from the board follows: