Burlington District School’s Superintendent Tom Flanagan made his recommendation to the school board Tuesday to narrow the Burlington High School and Burlington Technical Center search from 12 site options to two. The board passed the motion and now the focus will be on deciding between the old BHS location on Institute Road or moving to Gateway Block, formerly known as Memorial Auditorium, near the city’s downtown.”I have heard from a number of people in favor of the Institute Road site,” Polly Vanderputten, BDS committee member, said. “I have also heard from a number people in the community including students, teachers and families that the opportunities provided by a downtown site like we have now have been really eye-opening.””We don’t want to rush,” Flanagan said. “We don’t want to hurry through this process. We want to do it right but we also know that we need to build a high school for our community.”Mayor Miro Weinberger sent a letter to the school board on Friday, supporting the idea of BHS staying downtown. Currently, the high school is at the old Macy’s location. The mayor said, in-part: “I strongly recommend that the Memorial Auditorium/Gateway Block be advanced to this next stage. I believe there are numerous, significant ways in which the City can partner with the BSD if the Gateway Block is ultimately selected by you for the new high school.”The school board and superintendent are hopeful this effort to quickly, yet thoroughly pick a site will help to reach their goal of having a new high school and technical center open by August 2025. “That’s a really aggressive timeline that some people say is not possible but I think it is important that we set a goal and we really try to achieve that goal,’ Flanagan said. There is no budget yet for the building of the new school. A previous, $70 million bond that was initially for renovations to the Institute Road site will be returned and a new bond will be voted on by taxpayers. The superintendent said he wants a location, and eventually a new school building, that is accessible to the community. He added that there has been and will continue to be community input into how BHS is built.
Burlington District School’s Superintendent Tom Flanagan made his recommendation to the school board Tuesday to narrow the Burlington High School and Burlington Technical Center search from 12 site options to two.
The board passed the motion and now the focus will be on deciding between the old BHS location on Institute Road or moving to Gateway Block, formerly known as Memorial Auditorium, near the city’s downtown.
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“I have heard from a number of people in favor of the Institute Road site,” Polly Vanderputten, BDS committee member, said. “I have also heard from a number people in the community including students, teachers and families that the opportunities provided by a downtown site like we have now have been really eye-opening.”
“We don’t want to rush,” Flanagan said. “We don’t want to hurry through this process. We want to do it right but we also know that we need to build a high school for our community.”
Mayor Miro Weinberger sent a letter to the school board on Friday, supporting the idea of BHS staying downtown. Currently, the high school is at the old Macy’s location.
The mayor said, in-part:
“I strongly recommend that the Memorial Auditorium/Gateway Block be advanced to this next stage. I believe there are numerous, significant ways in which the City can partner with the BSD if the Gateway Block is ultimately selected by you for the new high school.”
The school board and superintendent are hopeful this effort to quickly, yet thoroughly pick a site will help to reach their goal of having a new high school and technical center open by August 2025.
“That’s a really aggressive timeline that some people say is not possible but I think it is important that we set a goal and we really try to achieve that goal,’ Flanagan said.
There is no budget yet for the building of the new school. A previous, $70 million bond that was initially for renovations to the Institute Road site will be returned and a new bond will be voted on by taxpayers.
The superintendent said he wants a location, and eventually a new school building, that is accessible to the community. He added that there has been and will continue to be community input into how BHS is built.
