“Considering the current status of this project the initial timeline is no longer attainable.”
This, according to the Near North District School Board, when it comes to student accommodations pertaining to graduating eighth-grade W.J. Fricker students and which secondary school they will attend in 2019-20. In previous versions of the plan, the intention was to close Widdifield permanently this June. Still to be decided was where the graduating Fricker students would enrol in September.
At its January 22nd regular board meeting, the NNDSB will consider a motion keeping Widdifield Secondary School and W. J. Fricker open for the 2019-20 school year as well as transitioning the graduating Grade 8 students from W.J. Fricker to Widdifield Secondary School as in past years. This proposed motion was unanimously agreed to at the board’s committee of the whole meeting last night.
“The Board had a comprehensive discussion on the issue and were fully in agreement with the staff recommendation. It is in the best interest of our students to maintain quality programming in all schools while the Board awaits information from the Ministry and the Ombudsman’s report regarding the 3:2 consolidation. We were cognizant of the timelines for course selection and the need to have information communicated to students and parents in a timely manner” said Chair Jay Aspin in a release.
NNDSB reports “the temporary closure of W.J. Fricker to accommodate the construction of the new building will be delayed. Although the funding has been approved by the Ministry of Education, there are a number of procedural requirements relating to procurements and cost consultants that must be completed and approved by the Ministry before the project can proceed.”
