In a letter released Friday, the Minister of Education says he has launched a full governance review after high school students in Parry Sound were forced to start the school year online.
The review into the Near North District School Board will be looking into the actions surrounding the partial demolition of the community’s old high school and delays in the construction of the area’s new kindergarten to Grade 12 school.
This comes after parents, students and local officials expressed their frustration and anger over finding out a week before the start of school that all high school students would be forced to start school online, with nowhere to go.
In a letter, Minister of Education Paul Calandra said the review comes following the request of the local MPP.
“I am launching a full governance review of the Near North District School Board. The board’s own trustees recently voted to request an investigation, underscoring the seriousness of the situation. This review will begin immediately, and I have asked for a report back in 30 days,” he wrote.
The plan, which was outlined in an online statement from the board in August, saw students in kindergarten to Grade 6 sent to attend McDougall Public School and all Grade 7 and Grade 8 students attending the previously closed Nobel Public School site.
But all high school students are beginning the school year remotely, with the school board saying the goal is to move into the old Parry Sound High School, which was partially demolished.
While McDougall P.S. was set to remain open until the end of 2025 to help with the transition of students into the new building before being sold, both Nobel Public School and the high school were officially closed down at the end of the last school year.
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Calandra said he urged the school board, following a visit in April, to notify parents about the delay.
“I was also assured that, despite delays, the new school would be completed in early September and ready to be fully occupied by students soon after,” he wrote. “I was further told that the old school would be demolished over the summer and the new site would be ready for high school-aged students and child care as of Sept. 1.”
He writes that when it became clear the site would not be ready in time, he wrote again to the board on July 25, demanding an immediate plan to address student accommodation, and was provided with a contingency plan soon after.
“To be clear, I was not willing to support any action on the site that could put students and educators at risk, including demolition or environmental abatement,” he wrote.
Calandra said he was assured by the board that utilizing the existing high school was a safe option until outstanding issues with the new build were resolved.
“To ensure student safety, I was not, and am still not, ready to consider demolition of the old high school while students and teachers occupy the new one. I have yet to receive a plan that assures me this could be done safely,” he said.
In an interview with Global News earlier this week, Parry Sound’s Mayor Jamie McGarvey said city staff are working with the school board and a construction company to see if the old high school could be used in the interim, but it’s not an easy task.
“There was asbestos abatement being done, there was demolition being done, so we need to make sure that the building is safe and from a health and safety standpoint that the quality is good, that structurally the building is fine,” McGarvey said.
He says work is ongoing to see that it is safe to allow high school students back temporarily, but he cannot say how soon that will be.
McGarvey is among those pushing for answers as to what happened.
“Nothing seems to have gone right, and I think we need to get to the bottom of it because those students are our future, and we want to make sure they can get the best possible education that they can,” he told Global News earlier this week.
Calandra wrote that he was disappointed, frustrated, and angry with what was happening.
“I want students back in classrooms as soon as possible. I have instructed the board to copy me personally on all communications with the Town. If yardsticks change and delays occur, I want to know immediately,” he said.
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