To help provide a more modern and accessible building, the St. Clair Catholic District School Board is continuing its efforts to seek provincial funding to build a new Ursuline College Chatham.
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With the funding request totaling nearly $81 million, board officials expect an answer for the secondary school in the spring.
However, it has tried four other submissions in recent years — 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 — which were unsuccessful, according to Amy Janssens, associate director for corporate services.
“A new school would provide staff and students with a fully accessible, energy-efficient building,” she said in an email to The Daily News.
To help meet the need, the board submitted for a two-storey building with a gross area of 141,988 square feet and capacity for 1,327 students.
The current school, located at 85 Grand Ave. W., was constructed in 1957 with six additions as recent as 2004.
As for a preferred location, Janssens said it would be “within Chatham city limits,” and that the school would keep its existing name.
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The board announced last month it planned to make submissions for other schools in its jurisdiction. These include Blenheim, where it’s seeking provincial funding for an addition to St. Anne school, as well as St. John Fisher elementary school in Forest.
The capital plan also calls for investigating possibly adjusting how space is used at St. Patrick’s secondary school in Sarnia.
The board is looking into converting under-utilized space in that building to additional classroom space.
In an interview last month, Janssens said the ministry only has so much money to go around, but if it provided funding “for at least one (project), we would be ecstatic.”
– With Sarnia Observer files
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