Two Stoney Creek, Ont. schools receive green light to spend $18.8 million on renovations

The province has given two Stoney Creek schools the go-ahead to begin the construction of $18.8 million in “new spaces” as part of a $1.4 billion renewal project across Ontario.

Mount Albion PS will receive $8.6 million of the money to create spaces for 230 elementary students, while $10.2 will be earmarked for Collegiate Avenue PS, which has been closed since late 2018.

The new spaces will include new childcare centres as well as three-room childcare additions, translating to 49 new childcare spaces.

“From modernizing our curriculum to revitalizing our classrooms and their facilities, we are investing in our students and giving them every tool to achieve their full potential,” said Education Minister Stephen Lecce said in a statement from the province on Tuesday.

Current Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board Chair (HWDSB) Alex Johnstone called the backing “exciting news” and thanked the education minister as well as Flamborough–Glanbrook MPP Donna Skelly.

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The money comes from a fund the Kathleen Wynne government announced in 2017 as part of its climate change action plan, in which $200 million worth of cap-and-trade proceeds were to be used to install energy-efficient building elements such as new windows, lights, and furnaces.

The closure of Collegiate Avenue public elementary school was part of a plan unveiled by the school board in 2016 to close 10 schools and rebuild four.

Collegiate Avenue has been closed for more than a year now for its aforementioned $10.2 million upgrade. Students from the school are being housed at nearby R.L. Hyslop and Green Acres temporarily until the upcoming renovations are completed, according to the HWDSB.

As part of the Ford Government’s 2019 budget, $13 billion has been promised in capital grants over the next decade allocating over $500M in 2020 to new schools, additions and major renovations.

The “new spaces” announcement comes amid a teacher’s strike in the province, with four teachers unions in Ontario holding job action on different days in different areas.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), as well as the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA), the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO) have all been working without a contract since Aug. 31.

The four unions say they will hold a province-wide strike on Feb. 21.

— With files from Kevin Nielson and the Canadian Press