The future of public high school education in Stratford is changing.
The Avon Maitland District School Board announced Monday that a $5.1-million grant from the Ministry of Education will go towards renovating the 1958 wing of Stratford Central Secondary School, adding an elevator for physically disabled students and faculty.
Board Chair Randy Wagler says it allows them to finally move the building forward.
"This is something we’ve been looking forward to for many years. We’ve had lots of concerns raised about the accessibility of this building, it is an older building, many different pieces to it," he says. "So it is exciting because, with this $5.1-million investment, it really allows us now to move forward with some plans that frankly we’ve been holding back on for a number of years."
Stratford Northwestern Secondary School will also get renovations. Construction will begin in the summer of 2019, and Stratford Central will close for the 2019-2020 school year, and will reopen for 2020-21. Students will be relocated to Northwestern and other schools to be determined during the closure.
Wagler says the idea will be integrated programming between the two schools.
"So what happens is, students then either in the morning, at noon, or after school, can move between the two schools," he says. "The idea is that maybe it’s a specialized course, maybe it’s a certain arts or technology program that isn’t offered at the other school."
Stratford Mayor Dan Mathieson was on hand at the announcement and says when the renovations are done, students will have amazing educational opportunities.
"For those that are just coming into the system, it’s going to be a whole new world for them," says Mathieson. "They’re going to be able to look at courses at two different campuses, and be able to move back and forth and still have a home base, which I think is important."
