Trustees with the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board have agreed to move forward with the redevelopment of the former Quinte Secondary School.
At Monday’s meeting, board members gave the go-ahead to begin work on renovating the former high school to include a Kindergarten-to-grade eight French immersion school, programming space for Quinte Adult Education and the relocation of all of the school board’s administrative staff, from the current education centre on Ann Street.
The French immersion section of the school would have 40 classrooms, an office, gymnasium, learning commons and facilities like washrooms, cafeteria and others.
Along with moving administrative staff from Ann Street, the board is also going to relocate staff and resources from the William R. Kirk building and the board’s maintenance building.
Current timelines have construction plans and funding for the $20 million project being finalized by the end of the year, with tenders going out early in 2022 and renovation work being completed in time for the 2022/23 school year.
Since the area’s projected 855 French immersion students would be moving from Bayside Public/Secondary, Harry J. Clarke and Prince Charles Trenton, the board is also recommending that a report come back with options to deal with capacity and enrolment challenges at those schools.
Those options include potential student relocation or boundary/grade structure changes, and are expected to be completed in the fall.
The former high school is currently being used by Hastings Prince Edward Public Health as a COVID-19 assessment centre.
