{"id":15716,"date":"2016-11-02T17:10:14","date_gmt":"2016-11-02T21:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=15716"},"modified":"2016-11-02T17:10:14","modified_gmt":"2016-11-02T21:10:14","slug":"push-for-new-high-school-could-have-ripple-effects-politicians-caution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/push-for-new-high-school-could-have-ripple-effects-politicians-caution\/","title":{"rendered":"Push for new high school could have ripple effects, politicians caution"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir <\/strong><\/p>\n

A new public high school in northeast Aurora could have ripple effects in other areas of Town, including a consideration on whether or not Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School should be shuttered, cautioned local lawmakers.
\nCouncillors \u2013 and Aurora-King School Board Trustee Peter Adams-Luchowski \u2013 said a full picture needed to be considered in response to local parents eagerly campaigning for a new secondary school in the highly populated community.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know how or where the money would come from to build another school without Williams being sold,\u201d said Mr. Luchowski. \u201cIn 2007, there was Provincial money to close Williams and build another school, but it is off the table.\u201d
\nThe community\u2019s concerted effort in 2007 to keep Dr. G.W. Williams open in the last decade was touched upon last week when Councillors responded to the concerns of parents calling for Council to \u201cbe their voice\u201d in getting the York Region District School Board to the table and facilitate talks for a new high school in Bayview and Wellington\u2019s northeast quadrant.
\nThe parents, in turn were responding to a notice of motion from Councillor John Abel to bring together Council, the Board, and the Province to get moving on the land which is already earmarked for such a purpose.
\n\u201cNow is the opportunity to bring this to light before a decision is made [on the future of the land] which could affect not only this generation but generations to come,\u201d said Councillor Abel, speaking in favour of his motion. \u201cA school in the east and a school in the west just makes sense. We have to let the School Board know we have a concern in our community and that Council is aware of it and wants that concern addressed as well.\u201d
\nDuring the discussion, Councillors made it clear they shared the concerns of residents but had two notes of caution: in the end, a new school is a matter between the Board and the Province; and a new school could have other impacts, namely the closure of Williams. Enrollment at Williams is on the decline, they said, with the majority of students now walking their halls coming from the east side of Town.
\n\u201cThe next body that needs to get 300 emails is the York Region District School Board,\u201d said Councillor Jeff Thom. \u201cIf we can turn the energy from this evening and this past week to contact the School Board and get as much awareness out there as possible, that would be the next step.
\n\u201cI support the residents in their call for a school on the east side of Town on Bayview. I strongly believe that Williams is an important part of our community as well and should be protected, especially when we note that a lot of intensification that we\u2019re planning in Aurora is going to be coming up along Yonge Street where Williams is in closer proximity. I think it is imperative we keep Williams as well.\u201d
\nBut, will that be an option?
\nCouncillor Michael Thompson said there is a \u201cperceived need\u201d for a school in the northeast when the kids growing up in this area are older, but it is important to \u201cnever deal with anything in isolation.\u201d
\n\u201cWe deal with a lot of different issues and there is always a ripple effect,\u201d he said, noting that enrollment at Williams is down to just shy of 700 from the approximately 1,100 students there when residents fought to keep it open. \u201cWhile the motion just speaks to a high school in the Bayview area, it does have an impact on G.W. Williams.
\n\u201cIf that school were to be closed, the same concerns that are being expressed by these residents about the sale of that land would be the same concerns being expressed by those residents in that area for the sale of G.W. Williams. Nothing is done in isolation, but I think it would be good to address some of the questions the residents have and we have of inviting the trustee to come in and talk to him.\u201d
\nCouncillors ultimately voted to defer a decision on the motion until more information \u2013 and the Trustee \u2013 could come to Council to shed light on the situation.
\n\u201cAurora High has about 1,100 students for a projected population base of 1.050 whereas Williams has 661 for a capacity of 1,075,\u201d said Mayor Geoff Dawe. \u201cOverall the high school system in Aurora is undersubscribed. I am very much looking forward to inviting the trustee to come to us so that we can get a much better feel on how those numbers look now and in the future.\u201d
\nA deferral, however, did not sit well with Councillor Abel who said it wasn\u2019t \u201cfair\u201d for northeast residents to have the \u201cWilliams demise\u201d held over their heads. It is not their concern, he contended, but rather something the School Board has to deal with.
\n\u201cWe, as a community, need a buy-in for the wellbeing of everyone,\u201d said Councillor Abel, turning his attention to the families in the audience. \u201cDeferral is often used in a Council to not address a situation so it will be completely up to the trustee to come forward as his leisure. What we\u2019re really doing is mothballing it at this time.\u201d
\nHis comments raised the ire of fellow lawmakers, who said that was not what they were doing at all and, in response, a 30 day time restriction was placed on the deferral.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new public high school in northeast Aurora could have ripple effects in other areas of Town, including a consideration on whether or not Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School should be shuttered, cautioned local lawmakers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-45u","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-07 15:27:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15716\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}