A high school on Hamilton’s east mountain will remain open as the city’s public board approves a decision to spend millions of dollars on renovations and the removal of asbestos.
Trustees at the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board voted on Monday night to keep Sherwood Secondary School in operation but temporarily relocate students and staff to the former Barton Secondary School at 75 Palmer Road while some of that work is underway.
An accommodation review of Sherwood in 2012 prompted trustees to try and get funding approval from the Ministry of Education to build a replacement school, but the board was unsuccessful after eight requests and had to come up with another accommodation.
Trustees were given three options:
- The status quo, which would keep Sherwood open without doing the necessary repair work — something that board staff says is not viable
- Temporarily move students to the former Barton Secondary School in September 2022 while performing renewal and secondary benchmark work at Sherwood, moving students back once that work is finished — at a cost of about $15 million
- Close Sherwood entirely and perform renewal and secondary benchmark work at the former Barton Secondary School, moving students from Sherwood to that site once the work is finished — at a cost of approximately $8 million
Trustees went with the second option, which will see Sherwood students temporarily remaining in the old Barton school on Palmer Road for about two years.
Associate director Stacey Zucker said the work at Sherwood would cost more than fixing up the old Barton school because the asbestos problem at Sherwood requires a lot more time and work, including spray fireproofing.
She also said, due to the way Sherwood is configured, there’s no way to have students and staff inside the building while safely doing the work that needs to be done.
Trustee Alex Johnstone said this decision is the best available option to the Sherwood community, given that the ministry did not approve an entirely new build.
“This is a community that has been waiting well over a decade to have confirmation, peace of mind, and to have a learning space that reflects 21st-century learning and has the renewal work that the students deserve.”
Trustees also approved a motion to ensure that students remain on the former Barton site as briefly as possible, and to form a transition committee to keep the community aware of the renewal work and give Sherwood students a voice in the transition process.
Kathy Archer, who is the trustee for Ward 6 where Sherwood is located, said it’s important the work can begin as quickly as possible so students aren’t away from their home school longer than necessary.
“Pretty well everyone’s on the same page — we want to stay at Sherwood, but we want the renovations done. But realistically, you can’t stay in the school while the renovations are being done, so moving them over to Barton would be, I think, the safest and the best.”
Student trustee Aisha Mahmoud highlighted some concerns about keeping Sherwood open instead of moving students to the Barton site, including the impact that the decision would have on other schools.
“Although they won’t be primarily affected by our vote tonight, they are still going to be affected by the direction that we choose to go in. We’ve seen the numbers and the difference in costs, and we know that that’s going to have an impact on 50,000 additional students in our board outside of the Sherwood community.”
Board chair Dawn Danko acknowledged that the choice may appear more clear-cut than it seems on the surface based on the figures, but pointed out that only $2.5 million has been spent at Sherwood over the past decade — compared to an average of $6.1 million at other schools across the board in that same time period.
“So I believe that if we factored in some of the funding that was not spent previously, this is catching up.”
Danko also pointed out that Sherwood has a more ideal location and said the building itself is “better set up” to meet the growing needs of student enrolment.
“At the end of the day, I believe we need to get started on this and we need to do it as soon as possible. I think students deserve a learning environment in a school that they can be proud of. And you know, I know there’s a lot of pride at the Sherwood site, but I think if you look up, you would recognize that there are actually some significant renewal needs.”
A community group called “Save Sherwood Secondary School” said they’re grateful for the board’s decision, although added that they would have preferred to stick with the first option so students wouldn’t need to be displaced at all.
“On behalf of our students, we will be monitoring progress to ensure that this project will be completed within the shortest amount of the 18-24 month timeline committed by Board staff,” reads a statement on the group’s Facebook page.
“We want to ensure that the students are displaced for the shortest period possible.”
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