Some parents at John Robson Elementary are concerned that their children will be going to school in a construction zone when they come back from school after the March break.
The district announced last week that it would be moving the school’s portable classrooms to a lower grass field in Simcoe Park over spring break to begin building a new middle school, but Rhonda Field said parents at the school are worried about the noise, dust and overall student safety.
“Obviously, the parents are a little concerned because the kids will be going to school in a construction site, which doesn’t necessarily facilitate learning, and then, of course, they’ll have minimal playground space for the end of their tenure at John Robson, and possibly none when we get to the new middle school either,” Field said.
The district stated that it wants to get rolling on construction in order to have the new middle school, which is being built on the Robson site, ready for September 2015. The district doesn’t want to have to transfer students midway through the school year.
“I understand what they are saying, they need it open by September,” Field said.
Still, the Robson parent questions why the district has the funds to move portables, but it has no funding, at this point, for a playground at the new school, École Qayqayt Elementary, which is opening in just six months.
“I wish we had their budget for moving the portables put into the playground,” Field said.
So far, the school’s parent advisory council only has $5,000 from Aviva to go toward a playground at Qayqayt (which is replacing Robson), which Field estimates will cost $120,000. The school’s parent council put much of its efforts into winning a Aviva Community Fund grant. The school made it to the semifinals but didn’t get the final grant. The school’s parents are now working on other possible funding, including drumming up corporate support.
Explaining why the provincial government isn’t funding the new playground, Field said because this school is considered a replacement school, it has only 25 per cent of the equipment budget that a new school would have, but that budget will likely be used for desks, computers and chairs.
