Mayor, school board chair pledge to work together

London city hall and the region's largest school board both pledge to work together more closely to ensure new schools are prioritized as the city plans new subdivisions to accommodate record growth.

Thames Valley District school board chair Beth Mai and Mayor Josh Morgan, alongside senior staff, met this week for an initial discussion about “how we can make sure there are lines of communication . . . to ensure smooth and effective processes on the planning side.”

“We have a responsibility to the people of London to make sure infrastructure is in place but also there are great education opportunities for the youth in our city,” said Mayor Josh Morgan. “There has probably never been a more important time for close and collaborative relationships with the board as we are growing rapidly as a city.”

He added: “Our shared responsibility on this compels dialogue and conversation beyond what there has been in the past.”

Considered one of Canada's fastest-growing cities, the population of London and area grew by 10 per cent from 2016 to 2021.

It's a far cry from the 2011-16 census, when the city grew by 4.1 per cent, lagging the rate in both Ontario and Canada.

Mai said the board has been working on having “as much productive dialogue as we can around shared priorities with all of our municipal partners” and met with London's mayor in advance of a June meeting.

“London is a high growth area right now. We've got this huge population. We have new schools, but we are going to need more schools, so us working together and looking to how we can be as productive as possible with that makes a lot sense," she said.

On April 29, Education Minister Stephen Lecce visited London to announce $27.1 million for a west London elementary school and $28.2 million for a southeast London elementary school.

Both Thames Valley schools will be built on land yet to be acquired by the school board and will create a total of 1,180 pupil and 176 licensed child-care spaces.

The schools are expected to ready for the 2026-27 school year, the board said.

The announcement was made at the second of three ground-breaking events Lecce attended April 29, at 2770 Buroak Dr. in northwest London where Thames Valley is building an elementary school announced in December.

Lecce also took part in ground-breaking for a Thames Valley elementary school at 3370 Regiment Rd. in southwest London.

The fourth-biggest school board in Ontario and serving fast-growing areas, Thames Valley has added at least 6,000 students since 2019, bumping its enrolment to about 84,000.