School type Public high school Principal Elaine Thomas Language English | Religious affiliation(s) Secular Grades 9-12 Phone +1 519-426-8400 | |
Address 660 Ireland Rd, Simcoe, ON N3Y 4L8, Canada District Grand Erie District School Board School board Grand Erie District School Board Similar Holy Trinity Catholic High Sch, Ontario Secondary School T, Waterford District High Sch, Sprucedale Youth Ctr, Simcoe Composite School | ||
Sprucedale Secondary School (formerly known as Sprucedale Training School for Boys) is part of the Sprucedale Youth Centre.
Summary
This youth center is a secure custody prison for young people aged 13 to 18 years old. Generally young persons older than 18 are moved to adult prisons. Sprucedale has the highest level of security for a correctional facility, and young people convicted of serious offences under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, up to and including murder are found within the prison. Until the 1990s, the school was not part of the Grand Erie District School Board, or any public school board.
The province of Ontario which runs the facility ran the high school as an independent unit within the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services; however, an administrative change was made throughout the province and the obligation to run the school was placed in the hands of the public school board that operated in the facility's region. The teachers that worked in the prison became employees of the Grand Erie District School Board upon this shift.
The school is designed to provide Ontario Academic Credits and allow young persons in custody to complete their high school or upgrade functional literacy and work related skills. There are no school teams or extracurricular activities. The teachers are not expected to be involved in correctional activities, rather they are dedicated to providing education like in any other high school environment and are often unaware of the prisoner's case history or criminal background. In 2002 when the prison staff went on strike, the school closed dispersing GEDSB teachers to other schools in the board for the length of the labour unrest.