Residents of Amherstburg now know where their new high school is going.
Amherstburg Town Council voted Monday night to sell Centennial Park to the Greater Essex County District School Board for the purpose of building a new high school on the site. The vote was made public following an in-camera meeting that lasted almost two hours.
The price tag for the 15-acre Centennial Park land is $2.4-million.
The new school would combine the existing General Amherst and Western Secondary schools into a new, state-of-the-art, centrally-located building.
Following the vote, public board Director of Education Erin Kelly told BlackburnNewsWindsor.com that other sites were considered, but a central location was desired and will benefit their Amherstburg students greatly.
"It's in the centre of town, so a good portion of our students will be able to walk each day, and we need to be able to continue to support the downtown businesses in that area," says Kelly.
Kelly says both schools were slated for closure when the school board's request for funding was approved by the Ontario Ministry of Education.
"We've received funding for $24.3-million to build a school accommodating 819 students," says Kelly. "The design phase will take about 14 to 16 months."
The school board has already chosen an architect to design the new high school, which Kelly says should be ready for classes by the start of the 2020-2021 academic year.