Private high school would attract foreign students Former J.E. Benson would join network of eight others in Toronto area
After serving as an elementary school for a century, the now shuttered Benson public school will become a private high school if the city approves a zoning change.
Tracey Sun, a spokeswoman for Markham-based businessman Ya Chen Liu, who has made a conditional offer to buy the building from the Greater Essex County District School Board, said the hope is to have the school open for September.
“It’ll be grades 9 through 12 and we’ll follow the complete Ontario curriculum,” Sun said. “It’ll be an English-language school.
“The building is in pretty good shape. We’re only planning cosmetic changes — painting, fixing up the reception area (main office).
“We’re just waiting for the zoning change from city council to get going.”
Sun said Liu has plenty of experience in private schools, being involved in a group that runs eight such schools in the Greater Toronto Area. He’s currently the sole owner of Benson, but Sun said others still may come on board.
“He’s spent the past six weeks in China doing recruitment and looking at possible additional resources,” Sun said.
“It’s likely most of the students will be international students to start, but we welcome domestic students as well. Most of the students in our other private schools in the Toronto area are actually domestic ones.”
Tuition fees for those Toronto area schools ranges from $16,000 to $22,000 annually.
“The tuition fees for the Windsor school haven’t been decided yet,” Sun said. “We have to see what type of market there is going to be, the number of students we’ll have.”
Once council approves the zoning change, which is expected in four to six months, Sun said the process to hire teachers will begin.
“Our preference is to hire teachers from Windsor,” Sun said. “We may have to transfer a few down from Toronto to get things going, but eventually we want the staff to be from the area.”
Sun said Liu has been studying various cities, such as London, for a site outside the Toronto area for some time. “He liked the Windsor site because it had a little bit of property and because it is close to the University of Windsor,” said Sun of the three-storey 88,000-square-foot school.
“The students who attend want to go on to university. The University of Windsor is a real draw for us because the school is already quite well-known in China. We’re hoping once we get all the necessary approvals taken care of we’d like to reach out to the university and develop a relationship with them.”
Lionel Walsh, assistant vicepresident, North American recruitment, at the university, said the University of Windsor has developed relationships with private schools in the area for many years.
“Our newest relationship is in the works now with Windsor Islamic School,” Walsh said. “I will be very happy to work with the new school at the Benson site to make their students aware of the many opportunities the University of Windsor has for them to continue their education in Canada.
“We are an especially appealing choice for international students due to the diversity of our students, faculty and staff.”
The university and St. Clair College already regularly invite students from both the public systems and private schools onto their campuses for events and programs.
Sun said the school will offer extracurricular activities in the areas of sport, music and art.
“It’ll really depend on the interests of the students,” Sun said. “We may even offer opportunities for horseback riding if the students want it. We want to offer students a complete experience.”
The Canadian Homestay program will be used to find accommodations for international students. However, Sun said there’s also possibility of exploring an agreement to take blocks of rooms at a local motel or hotel.
“We would provide a bus to get the students to school,” Sun said.