Facility Services Controller Kim Horrigan spoke about the renovations that Quinte Secondary School will need in order to host a French immersion program.
By Laural Samson [1]
BELLEVILLE – Quinte Secondary School may be getting a face-lift to allow for a new French immersion school to open there.
The Hastings and Prince Edward District School board met on Monday night to talk about what needs to be done to QSS in order to make it ready to become a French immersion school.
Kindergarten to grade 8 students in the French immersion program from Bayside Secondary School in Quinte West, Harry J. Clarke in Belleville, and Prince Charles Public School in Trenton would move into the renovated facility.
The proposed project will cost an estimated $2o million. The new school would have between 800 to 950 students. It would use 49,000 square feet for 40 classrooms, the main office, the existing large main gym. The facility would also have a new learning commons and space for auxiliary uses.
This would then leave 36,000 square feet for administrative and maintenance functions of the board, which would allow the board to declare the Board Office, Kirk Alternative Education Centre, and the George Umb maintenance building as surplus.
Quinte Secondary School is currently being used as a COVID-19 testing facility. But Facility Services Controller Kim Horrigan it’s a good location for the school because it is in a central location.
“We are fortunate to have a valuable asset in the form of Quinte Secondary School, in a central location.”
Horrigan said that in the June 2020 report presented to the board, there is a high participation rate in French immersion schools across the board. According to the report, French immersion students represent 7% of total enrolment, and make up 695 students across six schools.
A new school, dedicated to the French immersion program, will also alleviate some of the enrolment pressures that local schools are facing.
“We do recognize that the HPDSB has some emerging enrolment pressures in the Belleville area,” Horrigan said, adding that using Quinte Secondary School for a French immersion program should help solve this problem.
“There would be an opportunity to address enrolment pressures using this vacated space.”
The question of adding additional bus routes was also raised, with Superintendent Nick Pfieffer saying that an estimated 11 new bus routes will need to be added.
This will cost an extra $400,000 to $900,000 more a year for transportation alone, which is not included in the $20 million needed for renovations.
“It will cost more to transport these students because we are transporting them a further distance, and also, there are more students,” Pfieffer said.
The board already has about $13 million from selling past properties over the last 10 years, as well as the surplus of administrative buildings and other money put aside for capital projects, Pfieffer said.
He also noted that the school board receives $12 to $13 million annually from a building renewal grant, which would be put towards this project.
“So over the period of a couple years, it will be possible to fund the remaining cost of these renovations through the annual building renewal grant we get,” Pfieffer said.
“To do that, the board would have to prioritize this project over other projects. It is actually possible within the funds we have and the funds we plan to get over the next couple of years, to fully finance this project without going for outside funds.”