PSS described as key factor in town’s prosperity

Mayor upset that school once again faces possible closure

By Travis Mealing Midland Mirror November 13 2014

NORTH SIMCOE – The closure of Penetanguishene Secondary School would be a devastating blow for the town, Mayor Gerry Marshall told Simcoe County District School Board officials Tuesday night.

“In terms of quality of life – the ability to live, work and play – that becomes at risk without a high school,” he told members of the accommodation review committee (ARC) tasked with studying the issue. “People will choose to reside elsewhere.”

He added closing the school and transferring its 400 students to Midland Secondary School “would certainly make attracting new businesses to our town extremely difficult.” Marshall also presented a “ballpark estimate” of about $2.5 million for the salaries earned by staff at PSS.

Working from the premise that 42 per cent of the money earned in a community gets spent there, he estimated the economic impact of the closure on Penetanguishene would be more than a million dollars.

Read more