Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) staff is expected to report back later this month on a request by St. Simon Catholic School parents to fund a full replacement school.
The school's Wallasey Road building was built in 1977 with 225 pupil spaces. Today the school, off Weston Road, north of Hwy. 401, houses nearly 500 students, said Emidio D'Alfonso, a member of the St. Simon Catholic School Advisory Council (CSAC). "Right now, we're at that critical moment when we are faced with overcrowding," he said at the meeting of the board Thursday, Jan. 26, noting the school's six portables take up most of the student playground. "Moving forward, we're asking that St. Simon become a top capital project...and we ask the board to submit a business case to the Ministry (of Education) for the additional funding for a new school."The Weston corridor is one plagued by school crowding issues, D'Alfonso said, adding the problem is only going to get worse at St. Simon with the construction of an 880-house development nearby, along with the school's implementation of the full-day kindergarten program in the 2014/2015 school year.To help ease St. Simon's crowding problems, the TCDSB purchased the nearby Melody Public School site a few years ago from the public school board for the future development of a replacement school. While the board has so far secured $4.2 million in capital funding toward an addition at the Melody site to accommodate St. Simon students, what parents want is a completely new school. "Our preference would be that the Melody site be demolished and a new school be built on that site, and we understand there would be a shortfall of about $7 million," D'Alfonso said, noting 307 members of the school community have signed a petition for a new school.Should the Ministry of Education not come through with the additional funding, parents further requested the TCDSB look into alternative funding solutions. North York Trustee Sal Piccininni, who lives in the St. Simon community, thanked D'Alfonso and the rest of the parent community at St. Simon's for their "perseverance and patience throughout this ordeal."He further requested that staff reports back on the parent requests at February's meeting of the board "so they know where they are and where they stand." That motion was carried unanimously.