Parents have expressed concern after learning that their children will have to navigate an active construction site on their first day of school.
Castlebar Junior School will open its doors on Tuesday to students in Kindergarten through Grade 3 for the first time. But to get to those doors, students and parents will have to walk past construction vehicles and gated areas.
“We’re a little concerned about the state of the school,” Kim Barker, whose son Josh will start school at Castlebar, said. “I mean we’ve been driving by every day this week to look at where they’re at with getting things ready- this is not as exciting as we would have thought it would have been.”
The school is currently undergoing major renovations in order to outfit it for its new use, but even as crews work throughout the weekend, those renovations won’t be finished by the time school starts.
Construction crews work at Castlebar Junior School on Aug 31, 2019. (Scott Lightfoot/CTV News Toronto)
In a letter posted on the school’s website, Principal Colleen Bellhumer apologized for the delay and inconvenience, telling parents “these kinds of projects bring challenges and a number of contributing factors that have slowed the construction including a delay in obtaining a permit, labour actions by construction trades and a backorder of material for the replacement of the windows.”
Down the street, another Castlebar parent wondered when the construction will be finished.
“It clearly is not ready and I don’t know when it will be either,” said Kiran Grewal, whose son will attend the school.
Castlebar isn’t the only school in the Toronto District School Board that will still have active construction on site come the first day of school.
At Charles G Fraser Junior Public School in Trinity Bellwoods, construction crews were hard at work on renovations to the building. On the school’s website, parents are warned that the ramp at the back of the school will not be open on Tuesday and that alternate arrangements are being made for students to enter and exit the building.
At Charles G Fraser Junior Public School, construction crews work on renovations a few days before school is set to begin. (Scott Lightfoot/CTV News Toronto)
The note also reads that safety is a priority, something that’s echoed at Castlebar.
“I still find a bit risky,” Grewal told CTV News Toronto. “I mean kids are kids, like I don’t know how safe exactly it will be but yeah it’s a shame that it’s still going on.”
Barker says she trusts the school will have her son’s safety in mind, but worries about what he’ll face heading back to school.
“It’s just not going to be the greatest experience.”
