Kingston Secondary School will not open in the fall due to coronavirus construction restrictions

Construction on Kingston’s newest high school has been stalled by the coronavirus pandemic.

A post on the Kingston Collegiate Vocational School’s (KCVI) website says the long-awaited Kingston Secondary School site on Kirkpatrick Avenue was shut down due to provincial emergency orders on April 4 barring non-essential construction.

The new high school had already had its opening date postponed a year to this upcoming September. An update from the school board in March said the new build was in its final stages of completion.

Students were meant to move from the KCVI site to the new secondary school in the new term, but those dreams have now been dashed.

“We had hoped that our new school site would qualify as an essential project given its proximity to completion, and because it is indeed an essential project to us. We recently received notice that it does not meet the threshold as an essential construction project, and all work has stopped,” the notice read.

A new opening date has not been announced. KCVI high school students will remain at the Frontenac Street location next fall.