LDSS intermediate wing to be demolished
LAKEFIELD -- The public school board is going ahead with its plan to demolish the intermediate wing at Lakefield District Secondary School (LDSS).
The decision to raze the intermediate wing of the former Lakefield high school was made during a Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board meeting Thursday night.
“We’re not going to revisit the decision,” chairwoman Cathy Abraham said.
LDSS closed as a high school in June, but Lakefield Intermediate School for Grades 7 and 8 remained open this year.
Now, Ridpath Public School in Lakefield is closing in June. The plan is to relocate those students to a new school in the LDSS building in September after renovations.
The new school–Lakefield-District Public School – will be for kids from kindergarten to Grade 8.
With more than enough space for the elementary school students in the LDSS building, the intermediate wing was going to be left empty.
So the board decided to tear it down.
Following queries from Selwyn Township council and some residents about the demolition, the board decided to see if anyone was interested in leasing the space.
It put a call out to the public about a month ago, asking for interested parties to submit an expression of interest by Friday.
But it didn’t receive any submissions that matched the criteria it was looking for.
Without any viable candidates to lease to, the board is going ahead with its plan to remove the wing, Abraham said.
“We had a fulsome debate about it ... in the end ... we are satisfied and there’s no appetite to change the course of action,” she said.
Selwyn, Douro-Dummer and Trent Lakes township councils all asked the board to consider extending the period for expressions of interest for a year, but the board didn’t bite – it would cost too much money in the end.
Both Ridpath and Lakefield Intermediate would have to stay open another year and the LDSS building would still need to be heated and maintained, costing the board $95,000.
Joyce Mackenzie, a Lakefield resident and former school board trustee, doesn’t think the community had a proper chance to weigh in.
“I’m just appalled by the way they’ve gone about this demolition plan without consulting the community in any real way,” Mackenzie said.
She said four weeks wasn’t enough time for agencies that might be interested in leasing the space to prepare an expression of interest.
“That’s why the township asked for a year, so that people could get their ducks in a row and present a plan that would be workable,” Mackenzie said.
As a public institution, Mackenzie said citizens should have a say in what happens to it, especially when it’s the newest wing of the building.
“We all have our rights as citizens to be a part of the planning in what happens to our good buildings and in this case we had no input,” she said.
The space created by the demolition of the wing will leave ample room for buses and for parents dropping off their kids. Parents expressed concern during a consultation last year about the safe drop off of youngsters on the busy road.
Abraham couldn’t comment on when demolition of the wing would begin.
And while Abraham said she understands there’s been some concern over the removal of the wing, she thinks people will be pleased with the new school.
“I think they’re going to be happy with the end result, maybe not happy with how we got there, and I appreciate that, but it’s going to be a great elementary school,” she said.