After seven years of planning, consultation, cost increases and delays, ground has officially been broken on the Kindergarten to Grade 12 Blue Coast District School in Forest.
A ceremony was held Thursday to mark the special occasion at the Townsend Line site, near The Shores Recreation Centre.
Lambton Kent District School Board (LKDSB) Director of Education Gary Girardi said the $74-million, 1,100 student, facility is fully funded by the province.
The Blue Coast District School will consolidate Aberarder Central School, Bosanquet Central Public School, Kinnwood Central Public School and North Lambton Secondary School.
It will also support the communities of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation, Lambton Shores and Plympton-Wyoming.
Girardi said it's great to see the project progressing. He's the board's third director since the idea was formed in 2018, following Jim Costello and John Howitt.
"We're not exactly sure when work will start, we're in the middle of our process for hiring a general contractor," said Girardi. "Once that's completed, then we'll probably have a better idea of the timeline. We're dealing with the weather as well so that will also impact it. It should take about two years from the time construction starts so we're looking forward to moving as quickly as we can."
Girardi said the tender for the work closes at the beginning of November. He said he's excited to see a state-of-the-art facility being built.
"We're going to be putting funds into areas that relate to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)," he said. "There's a lot of emphasis on the technological area and that resonated quite a bit with us in our process. And, wherever we can try and link in with some of the areas of importance within the community like agriculture for example."
Girardi said there will also be the opportunity for students to pursue a Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM), and there will be childcare spaces and earlyON rooms.
He said there are benefits to the Kindergarten to Grade 12 model, and it's something the board has been looking to implement after touring similar facilities.
"We're not looking at students coming and leaving the building, we're looking at how we can support students along the entire continuum. If we look at things that way, we believe that we'll be able to better support not just students but their families and communities as well. I think it will fit in really nicely here."
Girardi also said it will be a positive thing for the students to be able to interact with their siblings or those who they babysit.
Lambton Shores Mayor Doug Cook is pleased with the location of the school.
"We advocated, we pushed really hard to get them to move to near the arena and away from the Kinnwood because of the location. There would have been too much traffic going through a residential area with the buses," said Cook. "This is a much better location for it to be. There's a rink and a gym nearby if they need extra space for activities."
Lambton Kent Middlesex MPP Steve Pinsonneault also shared remarks and offered well wishes from Education Minister Paul Calandra.
"We're setting a vision for modernizing education in rural communities. It will be a hub for learning, connection, reflecting years of planning and collaboration. Congratulations to everyone involved from the teaches to the directors and superintendents, everyone had a hand in this. It takes a community to get something like this done, and I'm happy to get it over the finish line."
