High School Truth #2- The Politics.

The want and the need for a high school in Wasaga Beach has been an ongoing issue for all of the years I have lived here. I think my first Facebook discussion about the issue was probably back in 2012 or so. Then in the 2014 election my wife was elected to Council. During her first term of office, she was asked to sit on a “High School Task Force”.

This task force was Mayor Brian Smiths answer to pressuring the SCDSB to build a high school. They hired expensive consultants and used flawed statistical data to support their push. The end result for that first task force was that they created such a volatile relationship with the SCDSB that they actually got a letter (that was made public) from the school board saying that future communication should be through lawyers. How sad that bullying didn’t work for them.

Despite the relationship, the SCDSB continued their long term plans and towards the end of that term (2014-18) an announcement was made that they were working towards a land purchase.

Then the 2018-22 Council took office and healing relationships with the school board became a priority. Wasaga Beach was finally on a Capital Funding list, but this happened during COVID times and no funding for new builds were approved in Ontario.

So… fast-forward. Brian Smith manages to get re-elected with an entire slate of Council Members who follow his lead. Does the new Council continue to build on the healing?

No.

Instead, the Council plans their own school. They apparently (based on Facebook posts today) reached out to Both the Simcoe County District School Board as well as the Simcoe Muscoka Catholic School Board and said land was available beside the TPAL and they wanted to partner to get a school built. Wait, what? The Town Reached out? They knew the SCDSB was well on the way to planning a High School already.

So… Pause for a moment and consider the planning process for such important builds. First comes a demonstrated need, then comes selecting an appropriate location, then getting the funding to build.

The Ontario Government has worked at streamlining the process of building schools and one aspect that was a requirement was the acquisition of land. Two school boards, with two separate histories. #1 had a long term plan, demonstrated need, selected property, negotiated purchase, received provincial approval to proceed with purchase. #2 apparently had no long term plan in WB for a high school, definitely no demonstrated need (without relying on the numbers from #1) but they were contacted by the Town who apparently was now in the business of brokering land deals.

The Ontario Government puts out a call for proposals for capital projects (usually yearly) and did so in 2023. Within a couple of months of the Town reaching out, they had a plan that included land purchases, shared parking arrangements, agreements with a college and university and an agreement with the Catholic School Board to use their auditorium as a Community Theatre. All of that planning in months and they announce their plans first at an AGM for a lobby group that helped them get elected. Weeks later the general public was informed.

There was a deadline for proposals and two school boards now tell the Minister of Education they want to build a high school. This is where the true motives of our Council are revealed. One school board wants to build a full STEM high school which requires a large proposed capacity to justify funding. It is a high school that will accommodate 1150 High School Students. This board has already selected a site, received approval to purchase the site and was in the final stages of that purchase. That school board was however the one with bad blood created by the previous Brian Smith Council. This School Board was on their own. Their proposal went in without support from Wasaga Beach. Weeks AFTER the proposals went in, the Mayor realized how bad this looked and issued a letter of support.

Let’s look at the OTHER proposal and political action. Every year there is a conference put on by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. At this conference, municipalities are afforded the opportunity to meet with various ministers. Wasaga Beach takes an entire delegation to a meeting with the ministry of Education to ask for the funding for a K-12 school to be built by the Catholic Board. They take Council Members, Board Members, staff and possibly even the developer working with the town. They ask for funding approval for this submission alone. The Public Board proposal is not on their agenda.

Weeks later, there is another opportunity for people to meet with Minister Lecce as he hosts a $1000 a person fundraiser for his political party. Guess who shows up? Well according to sources, 3 Members of our Council, Both of our CAO’s and someone from the developer who will provide the land for the Mayors choice of High School.

One member of Council Richard White is questioned about attending this and he responds. He justifies going because of the need for a high school and says something about no costs will be charged to the taxpayers.

This fundraiser was hosted by the Minister who weeks later would announce that the Mayors High School was getting funding.

So, to summarize and clarify… this is NOT about which board gets a school built. Today’s discussion is about the political manipulation our Mayor is willing to use to hoist his victory flag.

The Minister had TWO proposals for high schools and the Town of Wasaga Beach has shown up promoting ONE. There are two clear differences in the proposals.

1. One is planned at a location appropriate for a full sized, full service High School. The other is located where Mayor Smith and his personal CAO can claim victory and say it was all because they are building a “hub”.

2. One would serve 1150 students and provide a full curriculum. It had no municipal support when submitted and two weeks later got a letter. The other serves 500 select students and will not offer a full curriculum. It had plenty of municipal support including thousands of dollars in consultant fees, lobbying and even attending fundraisers to promote the cause.

These are ALL decisions made by your Council “in camera” or behind closed doors. None of these details were discussed at public Council Meetings until after they were moving forward.

So, you decide… is this proper use of municipal process? Is it appropriate use of municipal funds? Is it proper (I’m not asking if it’s legal- I’m sure they checked) for our staff and Councilors to attend grand fundraisers to influence a decision?

I just think it is a shame that a superior project was available that would have served 1150 of our youth and instead of supporting it, our council got behind their own plans.

Let’s just hope this does not delay the eventual approval of the SCDSB High School on Sunnidale Road.

Your Mayor, his chosen Council and key staff decided to support one proposal over another. They succeeded in getting their funding. I guess for me, the big question is “at what cost”?

In recent posts, I have encouraged our youth to get involved in politics. To our youth I now say please look at these decisions carefully. This is a great example of how you can get what you want if you play the game, even if it’s not best for the community. Think about the processes. What values and morals will you display if you ever run for office?