Q&A: Planning for a High School in Wasaga Beach

Under the Education Act, the Simcoe County District School Board (board) is responsible to determine the number and kind of schools to be established and maintained and the attendance area for each school. The school board makes requests for funding of new schools to the Ministry of Education through the Ministry’s Capital Priorities process.

The board undertakes an annual capital planning exercise resulting in the creation of a Capital Plan.  Capital planning is an ongoing exercise that includes identifying future capital projects for new school construction and additions.  The Board of Trustees approves a capital plan every year.  The plan contains enrolment data, facility condition information and other pertinent student accommodation information.

The board’s Planning Department uses current enrolment and future enrolment projections to determine where growth or decline is likely to occur and where there may be a need for a new school, addition or other accommodation solution.

The board submits business cases to the Ministry as part of the capital priorities process.

Funding for new schools comes from the Ministry of Education. School boards submit their business cases for each new building and/or additions to existing buildings.  The business cases are only submitted when requested by the Ministry of Education. This is a provincial process governed by the Ministry of Education. The needs in Simcoe County are evaluated along with of other boards in the province.

The board prioritizes business cases to help Ministry staff understand where board staff and the board believe the needs are the most significant.  The priority order is determined by evaluating the impact on student accommodation.  The Ministry of Education does not necessarily approve projects based on the priority order provided by the board. It may or may not approve any of the projects submitted or in the priority order they are submitted.

The Trustee for Wasaga Beach and Collingwood is Tanya Snell.  She can be reached by email or by phone at 705-241-5331. Anyone with questions about the status of a High School for Wasaga Beach should contact Trustee Snell.

Yes, a 15-acre parcel fronting on Sunnidale Road in the Sunnidale Trails subdivision has been set aside for new High School. Learn more about Sunnidale Trails.

The developer is currently servicing the lands with water and sewer and finalizing planning approvals. It is expected that the site will be available for development in early 2022.

Town staff regularly provide updates to board staff on the growth that is occurring in the municipality. Board staff track the number of students that are being generated.  The board is very much aware that Wasaga Beach is a fast growing community.

Council has been very active over the past 15 years as opportunities arose to make its case to the school board for a High School.  Typically Council’s engagement revolves around the creation of the board’s annual Capital Plan. 

The Mayor and members of Council have met annually, some times twice a year,  with Ministry of Education officials, including the Minister of Education or Parliamentary Assistant, to express the Town’s desire for a High School.

Since the 2018 election, the Mayor and CAO keep in touch with their SCDSB counterparts

The following (see February 2006 below) are the highlights of the actions taken by Council to ensure the board is aware of the need for a High School:

Meeting held with Simcoe County District School Board (board) Officials to present Wasaga Beach growth forecast information as well as building permit information for the past 10 years in support of a High School for the community.

Municipal and School Board Election. Trustee boundaries amended. New Trustee – Michelle Locke is elected and Wasaga Beach is in her area.

Altus submits report to Council indicating Wasaga Beach is the largest community in Ontario without an existing or planned High School, 760 students are bused out of Wasaga Beach everyday and by 2036 there will be 849 secondary school age students in Wasaga Beach.

Town informed that the board has not included a Wasaga Beach High School on the 2017/18 Capital Plan list.

Meeting held with Board representatives and representatives from the Ministry of Education. At the meeting the case for the construction of a 7 – 12 school in Wasaga Beach is promoted.

The board announces funding for a new Elementary School in Wasaga Beach.  In making the announcement to the Town, Director of Education Steve Blake indicates, “We are aware that the Town of Wasaga Beach has a desire for a secondary school. As students move the elementary panel, the board will be better positioned to submit a strong business case to the Ministry for a secondary school.”

The Town’s CAO and Board Director of Education establish formal lines of communication to pursue Council’s goal of establishing a High School in Wasaga Beach.

Mayor Bifolchi invites Trustee Snell to attend a future Council meeting to update Council on her efforts in representing Wasaga Beach. Presentation was made April 8, 2021.

At its February 24, 2021 meeting, the board approved the 2021-22 Capital Plan with 12 projects. Under the Future Capital Projects Section, “Northwest Simcoe Secondary Schools” is listed at an estimated cost of $51.0M.

The project detail about the Northwest Simcoe Secondary School explains that a consultant has been hired to undertake an assessment of Collingwood Collegiate Institute to help aid the board in determining the best course of action, renewal vs. replacement, however, at this point in time replacement appears to be the most responsible course of action.

With respect to Wasaga Beach, the detail goes on to state, “The Wasaga Beach secondary school population continues to grow as the approved secondary plans begins construction.  Market demand and building permit absorption is currently unknown at this early stage of development.  A secondary school site is designated within the secondary plan.” The Capital Plan is the board's internal planning document.

On March 24 of this year, the Ministry of Education asked the board to submit business cases for its 10 priority projects.  The list is to be submitted to the Ministry by May 21, 2021. 

At the April 8, 2021 Coordinated Committee meeting school board Trustee Tanya Snell updates members of council on school board matters including advising council that the Northwest Simcoe Secondary Schools is one of the 12 projects on the 2021-22 Capital Plan. Over the next month, the Board will be considering the 10 projects the board will submit to the province as its Capital Priority List.

April 9, 2021 Mayor Bifolchi writes to the board chair expressing Council’s support for the Northwest Simcoe Schools project being included on the Capital Priority List and expressing interest in discussing potential partnership opportunities in a new Secondary School at the appropriate time, building on the partnership established with the new Elementary School in the Sunnidale Trails Subdivision.

At the April 28, 2021 board meeting, trustees approves submitting the board’s Capital Priority List to the province, outlined in a report by superintendent Brian Jeffs.   The board also receives Mayor Bifolchi’s letter, which was listed on the board agenda

The priority list was as follows:

(i)     Banting Memorial High School Replacement School

(ii)    Killarney Beach Public School Addition

(iii)   New Angus elementary school Growth Accommodation

(iv)   New Alcona elementary school Growth Accommodation

(v)    New Alliston elementary school Growth Accommodation

(vi)   New Barrie #1 Southwest elementary school Growth Accommodation

(vii)  New Barrie #1 Southeast elementary school Growth Accommodation

(viii) New Bradford secondary school Growth Accommodation

(ix)  New Orillia elementary school Growth Accommodation

(x)   Northwest Simcoe secondary schools(Collingwood, Stayner and Wasaga Beach) Growth Accommodation

You can review the related staff report on the board website. Please see Report D-5-b.

The ‘Northwest Simcoe secondary schools’ item on the list speaks to secondary education requirements in the Georgian Triangle, in particular the need to address Collingwood Collegiate’s current facility condition and the broader post-secondary needs of the region.

Superintendent Jeffs spoke to the status of education in the Georgian Triangle in his report.

“As set out in the 2021-2022 Capital Plan, a variety of pressures are present in the Township of Clearview, Town of Collingwood, and Town of Wasaga Beach areas that make the development of a business case particularly unique and challenging,” he said. “The size of the Grade 9 - 12 student population at Stayner Collegiate Institute does remain relatively static in the 280-320 student range which results in some continued student retention and program pressures.”

He also spoke to the current state of Collingwood Collegiate.

“The facility condition of Collingwood Collegiate Institute is reaching a critical status and has an enrolment of approximately 1,400 students with a capacity of 1,260 pupil places. The public secondary student population residing in The Town of Wasaga Beach has been increasing at a slow rate over recent years, which currently totals approximately 610 students, of which approximately 500 students attend Collingwood Collegiate Institute. When accounting for demographic trends, student grade progression and residential growth, it is anticipated that a total of approximately 1,725 combined pupil places will be required by 2026 for the three communities,” Jeffs said.

He stated the needs of all three communities merit consideration. 

“Due to the interconnectedness of the pressures identified, and the noted MOE criteria, board staff is not prepared to recommend new individual school or individual replacement school projects without incorporating the needs of the three communities in an overall solution. Typically, in instances where significant facility conditions persist, enrolment levels that result in program pressures, and where accommodations pressures at a school or group of schools exist, the board would conduct a Pupil Accommodation Review (PAR) to best determine and consult on the preferred solution and outcome,” he said.

Jeffs noted that in April 2018, the province issued revised PAR guidelines but they have yet to be finalized and there is no indication of when boards will be able to undertake future PARs.

“As a result, the commencement of such reviews are not an option available to the board at this time. Despite this, it is staff’s recommendation to include a Northwest Simcoe secondary schools business case as one of the board’s 10 most urgent accommodation pressures in order to indicate to the MOE [Ministry of Education] the significance of Collingwood Collegiate Institute’s facility condition, in addition to the community specific accommodation and program needs in the area,” Jeffs said.

Feb. 23, 2022

At the Feb. 23, 2022 board meeting, trustees approved the Capital Priorities Program for 2022-2023.

See the board staff report on page 21 of the agenda for full details.

Watch the board meeting. See the 1:23-mark for the presentation.

The staff report, prepared by Corry Van Nispen, superintendent of business and facility services, notes that through a series of announcements in late 2021 and early 2022, the board learned that the following priorities were granted funding approval:

• Banting Memorial High School replacement - capital priority number one;
• Killarney Beach Public School addition - capital priority number two;
• New Orillia elementary school - capital priority number nine.

The province also announced funding for a childcare renovation at Tecumseth Beeton Elementary School.

For the 2022-2023 Capital Priorities program, school boards were asked to:

• Submit a maximum of five project proposals, of which a minimum of two projects are to be new projects and the remaining (up to three) can be drawn from the 2021-2022 Capital Priority submissions.
• Provide a priority ranking for the proposals.

The 2022-2023 Capital Priorities Projects are expected to be completed and open no later than the 2026-2027 school year.

To meet the needs of the board, while adhering to the province's criteria, the board is submitting for consideration the following capital projects:

• New Angus elementary school
• New Alliston elementary school
• New Bradford secondary school
• Nantyr Shores Secondary School Addition
• Ardagh Bluffs Public School Addition

A rationale for these projects is available on page 24 of the staff report.

"Staff acknowledge that the...Capital Priorities list does omit a number of projects previously submitted to the [province] by staff that failed to gain funding approvals. Aside from the [provincial] criteria, some factors relating to why staff is not recommending some projects at this time include:

1. No access to the designated sites/servicing or no viable site yet identified;
2. Critical accommodation or facility pressures occur further out in time; and,
3. Other mitigation strategies to alleviate accommodation pressures exist in the short to medium term (ie. holding schools or attendance area changes).

The board's 2022 Future Capital Projects list (derived from the board's Accommodation Plan) is available on page 23 of the staff report and under the Secondary School Category identifies the following local projects: 

• Collingwood Collegiate Institute Replacement
• New Wasaga Beach secondary school

This is a step forward from the 2021 Capital Plan, which only recognized "northwest Simcoe secondary schools."

Appendix M of the staff report, in reference to Collingwood and Wasaga Beach, notes the following: A variety of factors are present in the northwest portion [of the board area]. Collingwood [Collegiate] faces significant facility condition pressures coupled with significant residential growth for the town. The Town of Wasaga Beach, which currently does not have a high school, will see significant residential growth expected in the coming decade, generating the need for a new secondary school. The new Wasaga Beach secondary school will also support the Collingwood CI replacement secondary school strategy by ensuring enrolment is balanced.

Board officials say they hope to have the Wasaga Beach high school open for the 2029-2030 school year.

Superintendent Van Nispen concludes his report by noting that: "Capital planning and capital priorities continuously evolve and require flexibility in order to adapt to provincial and MOE initiatives and the ever changing environment in the County of Simcoe."

Watch the board meeting to learn more. See the 1:23-mark for the presentation.

Feb. 24, 2022

Board chair Jodi Lloyd appeared before Wasaga Beach council and provided an update on the board's plans for Wasaga Beach.

Lloyd outlined the status of the new elementary school in the Sunnidale Trails subdivision, slated to be open in September 2023, and confirmed that the board is hoping to have a high school open in Wasaga Beach for the 2029-2030 school year.

Watch the presentation here.

What steps can council take with the board to move a High School forward?