Thomas Merton Centre moves to Morden Road

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Halton Catholic District School Board is moving the Thomas Merton Centre from Speers Road to the old St. James Elementary School at 255 Morden Road. Merton students attend classes for English as a Second Language (ESL), French as a Second Language (FSL), Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada, and a select number of secondary school credits.

The "No Merton Move" group is not happy about the change, feeling the Morden Road is not the right location for the services that the school provides. According to the group, the Speers location provides ample parking and provides a non-institutional and secular setting.

Approximately 350 students and 53 staff attend the Thomas Merton Centre. Classes run from 8:20 am to 9:00 pm. A large portion of the student population travels to the school either by car or by public transit. Due to this, the parking lot on the old St. James Elementary School has doubled in size, and the traffic on Morden Road is going to increase substantially. HDSB's W.H. Morden Public School is just south of St. James.

According to the HCDSB, A Traffic Impact Study took place, and determined that the Morden Road location meets the same parking requirements and transit accessibility as Speers Road.

Elevations submitted to the Town of Oakville in August 2019 and were available online in November 2019; Image Credit: HCDSB

The Board first presented the plan to relocate the Thomas Merton Centre to the community in January 2016, as part of the Oakville South of QEW Modified Pupil Accommodation Review Process. The reference to moving Merton is on Page 16.

The plan presented to the community was to consolidate St. Joseph and St. James Catholic Elementary Schools into the now opened St. Nicholas Catholic Elementary School (located at 477 Warminster Drive), then relocate the Thomas Merton Centre to the now vacant St. James site.

HCDSB's cites the following benefits:

  • St. James facility is better designed to accommodate the needs of the students providing 14,769 addition square feet.
  • There is a significant amount of cost savings associated with using St. James, as opposed to the costs associated with operating the site on a leased, commercial facility.

The HCDSB indicated that a number of opportunities were provided for stakeholders to share feedback, but they did not receive any comments from neighbouring residents.

Plans were submitted to the town in August 2019 and were posted on the town's website on November 2019. Image Credit: HCDSB