History
The school was constructed and opened in 1972. The school was built on the former southern section of MacGregor Park. The football field is the former location of a lumber yard. The construction of the school necessitated the closing of the section alongside the school of St. Helen's Avenue. The siding of the building on the east and west sides of the building is unique. It was installed as "raw" steel and allowed to rust to reach the intended brown colour, then preserved. The school was originally named in 1972, by its students as West Toronto Secondary School. This was subsequently changed.
In 1992, the school, along with Monarch Park Collegiate, started its 'Steps to University' program to encourage the entry of high school students into university. Students could earn both high school and university credits in sociology while attending West Toronto.
In July 2009, it was announced that the grade nine classes for the 2009-10 school year were cancelled due to a lack of students applying to the school. The school, facing a decline in enrollment since 2004, had to cancel programs and courses. The operation of the school and its programs then became the subject of a TDSB Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) review. In August 2009, George Brown College expressed interest in leasing a floor of the school.
On October 1, 2009, teacher Maria Campodonico was named the winner of the first-ever Toronto Star Teacher Award. Campodonico came to Canada from Ecuador when she was 13. She later graduated from York and the University of Western Ontario's faculty of education, and was the president of the board of directors of the Spanish-Speaking Education Network for four months. When she arrived at West Toronto in 2005, she started implementing what would become an award-winning breakfast program after seeing the number of kids who went hungry. She knocked on the doors of local businesses, including local supermarkets, soliciting food and donations. It also became a vehicle for teens to start collecting perishable items to send to impoverished nations.
In November 2009, the Accommodation Review Committee recommended the permanent closure of West Toronto Collegiate effective August 31, 2010. The committee further recommended that the building remain in the possession of the school board for education purposes. West Toronto students transferred to other schools for the 2010-11 school year.
The TDSB transferred ownership of West Toronto Collegiate Institute to Conseil scolaire Viamonde and the Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud (CSDCCS) in October 2011. The school boards paid $20.5 million for the property.
The building re-opened in September 2012, as two schools, shared by the two French boards, as École secondaire catholique Saint-Frère-André and École secondaire Toronto Ouest. Renovations removed the swimming pool. The TDSB uses some floor space on the third floor.
Read more about this topic: West Toronto Collegiate
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