Please join other concerned community members for a Town Hall meeting on Thursday, February 19th, 2015 to discuss steps our community can take to help influence the Ontario government to approval the building of a public high school in Stittsville through the next round of Provincial funding expected in the Spring of 2015.
Meeting details are as follows:
Location: Johnny Leroux Community Centre, 2nd floor, 10 Warner- Colpitts Lane (also known as the Stittsville Arena)
Date: Thursday, February 19th, 2015
Time: 7:00pm-9:00pm
Invited guests will include Councilor Shad Qadri, Trustee Lynn Scott (Public), Trustee John Curry (Catholic), Mayor Jim Watson, MPP Jack MacLaren, and Minister of Education Liz Sandals (attendance of all to be confirmed).
Stittsville is the only community of its size in Ontario without a public high school. However, there will soon be two Catholic high schools here – one is already over-capacity, but full of both Catholic and Non-Catholic students. The population in and around Stittsville is booming and will soon outgrow all existing facilities.
The Ottawa Catholic School Board has indicated that it has plans to build another catholic high school in Stittsville before 2020. One-hour one-way school bus rides for Stittsville residents to and from the closest public high school in Richmond currently costs the taxpayer $800,000 per year. The lack of access to a public high school in Stittsville must stop.
Last fall, the public high school for Stittsville jumped into second place on the Public School Board’s list of priorities for capital projects that was submitted for funding approval to the Ministry of Education. This is the highest it has ever been since it was recognized by the Board as a need for this community back in 2006.
We need to maintain the momentum and ensure that the Ministry finally provides the funding for this project. Once funding is granted, a new school would not be ready to open its doors for at least another two to three years, so time is of the essence.
Come and learn about why our whole community will benefit from this school; share your ideas and help us develop ways to continue to lobby the Ontario government for a public high school in Stittsville.
You can join a Facebook group for people interested in updates on the push for a public high school in Stittsville: facebook.com/publichsnow