Ground can be broken any day now on the new Catholic Central High School in Windsor.
Trustees with the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board have approved the tender for the $30-million school to be built on an 11-acres piece of land between McDougall Street and Ouellette Avenue.
The project has been awarded to Oscar Construction, which has built several local schools including St. Joseph's and St. Anne Catholic high schools.
Board chair Fulvio Valentinis says there's been plenty of behind the scenes work to make the project a reality.
"There's been a lot of work by our administration in trying to get the appropriate funding and additional funding to cover any shortfalls. We have aggressive timelines in terms of moving forward and we look forward to that shovel in the ground," says Valentinis.
Trustee Fred Alexander taught at the current school and says it's been a long road.
"This is really, for me, a very profound moment since I was one of the teachers at Catholic Central from the very beginning. This is quite a moment for me and I think it was long overdue," he says.
Bernie Mastromattei is the trustee for the ward and says Director of Education Terry Lyons deserves a big thank you.
"I need to acknowledge Terry Lyons for getting us out of the Windsor Arena and where we're going from seven-acres to 11-acres. He went to bat for our new Catholic Central High School in every which way. These thing don't happen by accident," he says.
The building, which will house 938 students, is expected to be completed by August 2022 with plans to open it for the 2022-2023 school year.