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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, F eb ru ar y 7, 20 19 | 8 CAMBRIDGE 90 Main Street cornerstonefurniture.ca 519.740.9991 /CornerstoneHome /cornerstonehomeinteriors We stock more sofas than any store in Ontario. Be blown away! EVEN MORE CHAIRS COMING SOON Cornerstone receives container loads of furniture every week. Come in to experience the vast selection of chairs, sofas, dining tables, rugs, cabinets and cupboards. We have a myriad of accessories that will finish off the look you're going for. A new school has been approved in northeast Oak- ville. Oakville North-Burling- ton MPP Effie Triantafilo- poulos announced late Tuesday, Jan. 29 that the Minister of Education Lisa Thompson had approved a new elementary school for the community of Oakville. Triantafilopoulos said once completed the school will create space for 776 pu- pils in Oakville, in addition to 88 child care spaces. The new $20.7 million el- ementary school will be lo- cated at Sixth Line and Dun- das Street. "I am thrilled to work with MPP Triantafilopou- los, and applaud her tireless advocacy on behalf of the people of Oakville North- Burlington," said Thomp- son. Triantafilopoulos said supporting our growing communities with these es- sential investments is key to ensuring student success and opportunity. "The value this project brings to the students and parents of northeast Oak- ville will be felt for years to come," she said. "I am proud of our gov- ernment's commitment to quality education in Onta- rio." The news was well re- ceived by Ward 7 Town Councillor Jasvinder Sand- hu who during a Jan. 14 meeting of council called the school shortage in north Oakville a "crisis situation." She said there are cur- rently 18 portables at Oode- nawi Public School on Six- teen Mile Drive and voiced concerns during that meet- ing that some Ward 7 chil- dren will soon find them- selves redirected to schools all over Oakville. Sandhu said Ward 7 Town and Regional Council-Town and Regional Council-T lor Pavan Parmar, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton and her- self had been advocating with Triantafilopoulos and more recently Thompson for funding for the much-for funding for the much-f needed school in north Oak- ville. "As you know, we had a crisis situation that this new school will help alleviate it," said Sandhu. "We are very pleased with this announcement and look forward to working together with our education partners for our community and a more livable Oak- ville." Halton District School Board Director of Education Stuart Miller said the new school was initially sched- uled to open in September 2019, but was delayed. "The funding for the school was approved in Jan- uary 2018. Unfortunately, when we went out to tender in the fall the lowest tender was $2.6 million higher than the funding we had received from the Province," saidfrom the Province," saidf Miller. "We had to go back to the Ministry of Education say- ing it was $2.6 million more. We either need that addi-We either need that addi-W tional money from the Min- istry or approval to use some reserve funds that we had." Miller said the Ministry did not give the board ap- proval to proceed at that point, which resulted in some redesign work for some elements of the school in an effort to bring the cost down. These changes did bring the costs down, however, the updated price of the school was still $1.6 million higher than what the Province had approved. Stuart said the board again approached the Min- istry of Education and this time was permitted to use the board's reserve funds to make up the difference. "Now we have approval to proceed to construction," said Miller. "We are hoping to break ground in March, but of course it is weather depen- dent. The school was origi- nally slated to open in Sep- tember 2019. There is zero chance it will be open then. We are anticipating a Sep-We are anticipating a Sep-W tember 2020 opening, which will be a bit of a challenge for us because we will havefor us because we will havef to accommodate the stu- dents." Miller said students who would have gone to the new school in September 2019 will be accommodated in other schools in the north- east Oakville area. He said the new school will address the immediate short-term challenge in northeast Oakville but said over the long-term the chal- lenges will persist in ensur- ing the building of schools is not outpaced by develop- ment. Four more elementaryFour more elementaryF schools and a secondary school still need to be built in northeast Oakville, Miller said. He pointed out this issue is not unique to Oakville but can be seen all over the Province wherever signifi- cant growth is taking place. Ultimately, Miller said developments can be put up faster than school boardsfaster than school boardsf can put up schools. Oakville Mayor Rob Bur- ton argued this imbalance needs to be addressed. "It's great to have our MPP Effie Triantafilopou- los get this school going again after the minister stopped it," he said. "It's sad that the Province still requires us to add pop- ulation under its Growth Plan without the necessary provincial infrastructure and services such as schools and full cost recovery from the growth. We are hoping our MPPs can get the Growth Plan scaled back to something the Province can afford to keep up with." NEWS DELAYED NORTHEAST OAKVILLE SCHOOL APPROVED FOR CONSTRUCTION HALTON DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD HOPING TO OPEN SCHOOL IN SEPTEMBER 2020 DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com