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A new Stittsville high school that was not ready for the start of the school year this week now has an official opening date.
An email to parents from A.J. Keen, school board superintendent of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, said the Maplewood Secondary School in Stittsville will be ready for students as of Tuesday, Sept. 17, “barring any unforeseen delays.”
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“City of Ottawa officials have been on-site all week as the contractor (Tambro Construction Ltd.) completes the required work for occupancy,” the email said. “We anticipate an occupancy inspection will be conducted next week and we will send you a confirmation email by noon on Wednesday, September 11th.”
The school year started in the district last week, but Maplewood Secondary School was not ready to open its doors. The district said the building was not up to code, with a previous letter to parents saying “the number of outstanding safety issues strongly suggest that the building will likely fail the formal occupancy inspection,” ahead of the first day of school. The board then activated its contingency plan, with Grade 7 and 8 student temporarily moved to the former D.A. Moodie Intermediate School in Bells Corners, and Grade 9 students will attend online classes.
To prepare for the opening of the new school, all students in Grade 7 to 9 “will be learning from home (asynchronous) under the teacher’s guidance on Friday, Sept. 13 and Monday, Sept. 16,” the OCDSB letter said.
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“Maplewood staff will use these two days to move equipment from DA Moodie School and prepare the learning spaces at your school. Your student’s teacher will provide more details regarding instruction for these two days.”
The new school was originally scheduled to open in September 2023, but, like many projects, it was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic’s supply chain issues and construction labour shortages. The completion date was pushed to the spring of 2024, but that timeline also proved overly optimistic.
One of the fastest-growing suburbs in Ottawa, Stittsville now has more than 52,000 residents. Until now, its public high school students had to bus to Richmond to attend the aging South Carleton High School, built in 1952.
With files from Andrew Duffy
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