'Schools will be ready for September' with more than $7M announced to fight COVID-19 (5 photos)

Local school boards are receiving over $7 million for improvements that will help make schools ready to protect students and staff against COVID-19 when they open in September.

Sault Ste. Marie’s MP and MPP made a joint funding announcement Tuesday morning at Kiwedin Public School on North street, joined by officials from the public and Catholic school boards.

“We want to ensure we are giving our students, and of course our staff at all of our schools, the safest possible place to return to,” said Ross Romano, Ontario's minister of government and consumer services and Sault MPP, during the morning press conference.

Romano said he expects Stephen Lecce, Ontario’s minister of education, to make an announcement soon about the province’s plan for reopening schools.

“The plan is unfolding,” said Romano.

A total of $5,692,000 in local funding for school improvements will come from the federal government, while the Government of Ontario is contributing the remaining $1,423,000 to the projects.

Sault MP Terry Sheehan said the funding is open to a variety of uses and was made available through the COVID-19 Resilience Stream of the federal government’s Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. 

“Students, teachers and staff deserve to learn and work in safe, modern learning spaces and these investments will improve the safety in schools and classrooms in Sault Ste. Marie and across Ontario,” he said during the conference.

Kiwedin Public School was the backdrop for the announcement because it is currently being retrofitted and some of the funding will go toward safety improvements when it reopens.

Just over $4.4 million of the funding will go toward projects at Algoma District School Board (ADSB) schools, while Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board (HSCDSB) will receive the remaining $2,680,000.

Lucia Reece, ADSB’s director of education, said her board’s share of the funding is going toward projects already underway at 27 area schools. 

“We try to do as much work as possible while the kids are out of school, so there is work going on at all 27 sites,” said Reece. “Schools will be ready for September.”

Those improvements include new HVAC, window replacements, touchless water bottle refilling stations, child care retrofits, hand washing sinks, automatic flush valves, among others.

“These all contribute to making our schools a healthy and safe place to learn,” she said of the improvements. “I think we are hopeful we can have as normal as possible return in September.”

Reece said many of those projects were not possible to complete using the board’s regular budget and that she is thankful for the joint funding from both levels of government.

The HSCDSB improvements will be focused on schools outside of the Sault, with HVAC improvements at St. Mary's Catholic School in Blind River, Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Chapleau, Our Lady of Lourdes French Immersion Catholic School in Elliot Lake, École Saint-Joseph in Wawa and St. Basil's Catholic School in White River.

A total of $80,000 in funding will go toward touchless water bottle refilling stations at schools in Chapleau, Elliot Lake and Wawa.