2 sites identified for proposed Stratford School Complex

The committee behind a new school and recreation complex planned for Stratford says two potential locations have been identified for the projectand the group is ready to move forward once funding is confirmed.

Jill Burridge, chair of the Community Campus Committee, said she expects details on funding to be announced as part of the next provincial capital budget.

"We hired a consultant to identify sites within the town of Stratford limits that could accommodate something like this, so that's been completed and that's also been sent on to the province and the Public Schools Branch."

Burridge said theconsultants identified four suitable sites for the campus andthe options have been narrowed down to two both on private land.

She said negotiations on that land, and any design work, can't start until funding is confirmed by the province.

'In a holding pattern'

"We're just kind of in a holding pattern here right now," Burridge said. "Just ensuring that we do come through on the other side of that capital budget."

The 2019-20 capital budget allocated $38 millionfor a new high school in Stratford. The next capital budget is expected to be released during the fall sitting of the legislature.

No one from the province's Department of Finance, Department of Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy, or Department of Education and Lifelong Learning, responded to requests to confirm funding amounts, or any details on the progress ofthe project since funding was announced for it.

The plans for the campus include both a junior and senior high school, athletic fieldsand a wellness centre that includes an arena. The group would also like to see some sort of amphitheatre added to the plans.

The new campus would servestudents in Stratford, Mermaid, Alexander, Hazelbrook, Pownal, Donagh and Fort Augustuswho travel to either Charlottetown Rural or Colonel Gray High School now.

Burridge said after three public consultation sessions earlier this year, the committee is in a better position now to represent the needs of those communities.

A report drafted by the committee, based on content generated from the consultation sessions, was submitted to both the province and the Public Schools Branch.

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