Religious affiliation(s) Secular Status Leased out Phone +1 416-393-0320 Province Ontario | Founded 1968 Closed 1988 Principal Ronald Kendall | |
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School type Public High School
Vocational High School Oversight Toronto Lands Corporation Address 1515 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M6P 1A3, Canada District Toronto District School Board, Toronto Board of Education Similar St Mary Academy Catholic, Western Technical School, Bishop Marrocco Merton C, Etobicoke Collegiate Institute, Brockton Learning Centre | ||
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West Park Secondary School (WPSS, West Park) is a former public high school operated from 1968-1988 by the Toronto Board of Education (merged into the Toronto District School Board in 1998). The property is currently owned by the Toronto Lands Corporation (a real estate division of the TDSB).
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History
The West Park property and nearby mall was once a railway yard on the intersection of Bloor and Dundas. It was redeveloped when the school was built and opened in 1968. The school had extensive features including several classrooms, library, cafeteria, couple of art and drama rooms, 600 seat auditorium, 25m swimming pool, weight room, gymnasium, outdoor track and field, and a handful tech-equipped vocational shops. The school was designed by Abram and Ingleson Architects.
In 1985, Cathy McPherson, the coordinator of the PUSH Central Region, stated that West Park and five other schools were listed as having "excellent" access for disabled persons by the Toronto Board of Education continuing education program.
Decrease in enrollment had the Toronto Board of Education announced in 1986 that it planned to close the West Park facility by 1988. Irene Atkinson, the trustee of Ward 2, said in 1986 that it would likely be the first Toronto (Old Toronto) school closed due to declining enrollment. A task force recommended that the student body is transferred to Brockton High School. That year, the Toronto Star wrote that West Park students were expected to be transferred to Brockton. The Metropolitan Separate School Board (now the Toronto Catholic District School Board) offered to take over the campus and make it into a Roman Catholic separate school. The MSSB's Bishop Francis Marrocco Catholic High School on St. Clair/Dufferin area was over capacity, and the separate school board wanted additional space. There was a proposal stating that both public secular and public separate schools could share the same building.
On January 7, 1988, Ned McKeown, the director of the TBE, recommended that West Park be transferred to the MSSB. On March 7, 1988, the MSSB accepted taking the West Park facility. Sandro Contenta of the Toronto Star stated that the TBE was not willing to pay the funds to make the West Park building shareable between the two school boards. The transfer became effective July 1, 1988.
It was reopened as Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School in September 1988, which they were once called Bishop Francis Marrocco Catholic High School (opened in 1986) and St. Joseph Commercial School (founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1880 and was renamed to Thomas Merton Academy in 1985).