{"id":20295,"date":"2018-04-04T20:44:21","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T00:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=20295"},"modified":"2018-04-04T20:44:21","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T00:44:21","slug":"partnerships-on-new-high-school-could-lead-to-more-community-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/partnerships-on-new-high-school-could-lead-to-more-community-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Partnerships on new high school could lead to more community space"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

There is a \u201crenewed level of enthusiasm and energy\u201d between the Town and the York Region District School Board on possible partnerships on a new building when they move Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School to Bayview Avenue, according to Mayor Geoff Dawe.
\nFollowing a motion from Mayor Dawe last week, Aurora will begin talks with the School Board (YRDSB) on possible partnership opportunities on community facilities as they begin the consultation and design process for a new Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School on Bayview at Borealis, which is expected to be completed in roughly five years.
\nMayor Dawe\u2019s motion was one of two on last week\u2019s Council agenda related to the Williams move, with the other from Councillor Tom Mrakas focusing on what should be done with the old school once the move is complete.
\nSpeaking to his motion on the new build, Mayor Dawe said he is encouraged by the enthusiasm so far.
\n\u201cMr. Downey (Al Downey, Aurora\u2019s Director of Operations) has had multiple discussions with the Board, so\u2026we have never taken an official stand to talk to the Boards,\u201d he said. \u201c[Partnerships] worked out very well with St. Maximilian Kolbe in terms of that shared field, so I think there are some great synergies.\u201d
\nCouncillor Michael Thompson was similarly enthused over the possibilities.
\n\u201cI am hopeful because I know it has been a conversation since I have been at this table coming to these sorts of arrangements with the school boards, and using the facilities has been a challenge, so Mr. Downey has related to us on numerous occasions,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully when we work with them from the conception of the proposed high school we are able to overcome those and take advantage of it. It always made sense to utilize it to some degree, both for our own needs as well as theirs, so I will be in full support.\u201d
\nSpeaking in favour of the motion, Councillor Wendy Gaertner said she already saw schools as \u201cshared spaces\u201d within the community.
\n\u201cI would like to see all schools as shared spaces for the community, but here we have an opportunity to get in at the very beginning of the process,\u201d she said. \u201cIf it could be a community space for families that live in this area, it would be very convenient for them to use the space and I would be all in favour of that.\u201d
\nEarlier in the evening, Sport Aurora expressed its support on collaboration, urging both motions to go forward.
\n\u201cPopulation growth in Aurora is ahead of past planning expectations. Demand for sport and recreation facilities is ever-increasing,\u201d said Sport Aurora president Stephen Kimmerer. \u201cWhen a family is looking for a place to live, schooling, sport and recreational opportunities are at the top of their deciding list. Across Canada, activity levels are increasing as we address our health requirements. If we want to promote ourselves as an attractive community then we must address these issues. If Aurora is to become the most active community in Canada we need facilities.
\n\u201cSport Aurora supports community partnership opportunities and will aid in securing additional sports facilities, gymnasiums, fields, ice pads, pools and ball diamonds. Partnerships with those such as the York Region District School Board have the ability to drive efficiencies and produce cost savings. It only makes sense that they should be investigated and considered.
\n\u201cWe are reminding you once again of that. Sport Aurora will continue to support all initiatives to improve our recreational infrastructure. We encourage this Council and any future Council to continue to participate in positive dialogue and work with us to develop sport and recreational spaces \u2013 and programs \u2013 for all residents of Aurora.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a \u201crenewed level of enthusiasm and energy\u201d between the Town and the York Region District School Board on possible partnerships on a new building when they move Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School to Bayview Avenue, according to Mayor Geoff Dawe.<\/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_feature_clip_id":0,"_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-20295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5hl","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-05 02:12:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20295","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=20295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}