West Park Secondary School

West Park Secondary School (WPSS, West Park), originally known as West Park Vocational School is a Toronto District School Board public high school facility that operated as a regular school from 1968 to 1988 by the Toronto Board of Education from grade 9 to 13. The school offered various vocational and academic courses in the spacious four-storey school building for inner city schools. The property remains under TDSB possession as of 2019 as a holding school.[1]

For the former school in St. Catharines, Ontario, see West Park Secondary School (St. Catharines).
West Park Secondary School
Address
1515 Bloor Street West

Roncesvalles, Toronto
,
Ontario
,
M6P 1A3

Canada
Coordinates43°39′23″N 79°27′04″W
Information
School typePublic High School
Vocational High School
Religious affiliation(s)Secular
Founded1968
StatusLeased out
Closed1988
School boardToronto District School Board
(Toronto Board of Education)
OversightToronto Lands Corporation
SuperintendentSandy Spyropoulos
LC4, Executive Superintendent
Sandra Tondat
LN19
Area trusteeRobin Pilkey
Ward 7
School number951765
PrincipalRonald Kendall
Grades9-13
Enrollment1158
LanguageEnglish
Schedule typeSemestered
Colour(s)Brown, Orange and White    
Team nameWest Park Vikings
Public transit accessTTC:
North/South: 40 Junction
West/East: 504 King
Rapid Transit: Dundas West

History

In 1985, Cathy McPherson, the coordinator of the PUSH Central Region, stated that West Park and five other schools were listed as having "excellent" access for disabled persons by the Toronto Board of Education continuing education program.[2]

Decrease in enrollment had the Toronto Board of Education announced in 1986 that it planned to close the West Park facility by 1988.[3] Irene Atkinson, the trustee of Ward 2, said in 1986 that it would likely be the first Toronto (Old Toronto) school closed due to declining enrollment. A task force recommended that the student body is transferred to Brockton High School.[4] That year, the Toronto Star wrote that West Park students were expected to be transferred to Brockton.[3] The Metropolitan Separate School Board (now the Toronto Catholic District School Board) offered to take over the campus and make it into a Roman Catholic separate school.[3] The MSSB's Bishop Francis Marrocco Catholic High School on St. Clair/Dufferin area was over capacity, and the separate school board wanted additional space. There was a proposal stating that both public secular and public separate schools could share the same building.[5]

On January 7, 1988, Ned McKeown, the director of the TBE, recommended that West Park be transferred to the MSSB.[6] On March 7, 1988, the MSSB accepted taking the West Park facility. Sandro Contenta of the Toronto Star stated that the TBE was not willing to pay the funds to make the West Park building shareable between the two school boards.[7] The transfer became effective July 1, 1988. Afterwards, the programs at West Park were dispersed at Bickford Park High School (12 classrooms), Brockton High School (3 shops), Castle Frank High School (special education), Central High School of Commerce (special education) and Western Technical-Commercial School (auto shop renovations).[8]

It was reopened as Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School in September 1988, which they were once called Bishop Francis Marrocco Catholic High School (opened in 1986) and St. Joseph Commercial School (founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1880 and was renamed to Thomas Merton C.S.S. in 1985).[9]

In 2017, Choice Properties REIT proposed to redevelop the property adjacent to the West Park site, although a replacement school is not ruled out.[10]

See also

References
  1. http://www.torontolandscorp.com/images/pdfs/Toronto_Lands_Corp_Properties.pdf
  2. Brett, Mary Ann. "Schools don't make grade on access for the disabled Archived 2014-01-09 at the Wayback Machine." Toronto Star. August 26, 1985. Life p. C3. Retrieved on August 22, 2013.
  3. Contenta, Sandro. "Catholic board wants to take over Toronto's West Park Secondary." Toronto Star. December 17, 1986. News p. A7. Retrieved on July 23, 2013. "The Metro Separate School Board is eager to take over Toronto's West Park Secondary School - due to be closed in 1988 - in a bid to accommodate the board's growing student population.[...]A Toronto Board of Education committee has recommended that the full[...]" and "West Park students are expected to end up in Brockton High School, on Croatia St., south of Bloor St. W. "
  4. "West Park school to be closed by 1988." Toronto Star. December 16, 1986. News p. A7. Retrieved on September 28, 2013. "The task force recommends that West Park start "merging" with Brockton High School, on Croatia St. south of Bloor St. W., in the 1987-88 school year."
  5. "Public and Catholic students to share west-end high school." Toronto Star. May 30, 1987. News A6. Retrieved on July 23, 2013. "For the past year, Bishop Marrocco students have been sharing an elementary school with 500 of younger pupils. It's so overcrowded, students in the same class have to write exams in shifts. And with high school enrolment [sic] expected to jump to 328 in September, Catholic educators faced an accommodation crisis.[...]"
  6. Contenta, Sandro. "2 Toronto schools set for transfer to Catholics." Toronto Star. January 8, 1988. News p. A1. Retrieved on July 23, 2013.
  7. Contenta, Sandro. "Separate board takes two schools rejects one." Toronto Star. March 8, 1988. News p. A6. Retrieved on July 23, 2013. "Humbergrove Secondary School in Etobicoke and West Park Secondary School in Toronto's west end were accepted yesterday during negotiations on the transfer or sharing of schools under Bill 30, the legislation extending full government funding to Roman Catholic high schools." and "However, it would cost up to $4 million to make the building suitable for sharing and the Toronto board will not pick up those costs."
  8. http://www.metropolicyarchive.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/HSS-1146450-1989D_MSBT-Minutes-1989.pdf
  9. http://www.umanitoba.ca/colleges/st_pauls/ccha/Back%20Issues/CCHA2006/Smyth.pdf
  10. "Redevelopment of 40,000 square metre 'eyesore' could transform Dundas and Bloor". CBC News. Retrieved 2018-03-11.
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