May 18, 2011
Town slams school
decision
by Vance Gutzman
Deep River council is giving the Renfrew County District School Board a
failing grade over its decision to demolish the old Keys School.
The RCDSB announced recently that the Keys building would be demolished
to make “more playground space” for the new consolidated Kindergarten
to Grade 12 school slated to open in the current Mackenzie High
School this September.
The former Keys building is currently occupied by Atomic Energy of
Canada Ltd under a five-year lease with the school board.
The board said the building will be torn down next January, after
AECL's lease expires.
During last week's committee of the whole meeting, several members of
council lashed out at the school board's decision, and for several
reasons.
For one thing, close to 100 AECL employees work out of the Keys
building, and while the company's site planning department is looking
at options to relocate those employees, there's no guarantee they will
stay in Deep River proper.
"It's in our best interests to have those jobs in town," Councillor
Terry Myers said.
"I don't see it as a good decision for the community from the school
point of view, either."
Myers said the board will have to spend "considerable money" to tear
down the building and remediate the property afterwards, at the same
time people in town are expressing concerns the school board may not
have sufficient funds to complete the retrofit of the JK-12 facility at
Mackenzie.
Nor should school board trustees be expecting an apple from Mayor David
Thompson anytime soon.
"It is frustrating," Thompson said of the school board's decision.
"A hundred jobs in a community our size is a very significant."
Not only that, but the town, he said, could stand to be the recipient
of $75,000 in property taxes were the school board to sell the Keys
property, with the building intact.
"That's like a new subdivision with 25 houses in it," he exclaimed.
Overall, the mayor noted, there is roughly a $1 million
difference, to the good, between what the school board could get by
selling the building, rather than tearing it down.
"It seems like a pretty expensive compromise to build a playground," he
said.
"I think the entire community suffers from this decision."
At the suggestion of Councillor Chris Carroll, the town will broach the
issue with MPP John Yakabuski to see if he can raise a red flag on the
issue with Ministry of Education officials at Queen's Park.
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