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Brockton High School (Toronto)

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Coordinates: 43°39′29″N 79°26′17″W / 43.658129°N 79.437958°W / 43.658129; -79.437958
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Brockton High School
Address
Map
90 Croatia Street

Toronto
,
Ontario
,
M6H 1K9

Canada
Coordinates43°39′29″N 79°26′17″W / 43.658129°N 79.437958°W / 43.658129; -79.437958
Information
School typePublic High School
Vocational High School
Founded1966
StatusDemolished
Closed1995
School boardToronto District School Board
(Toronto Board of Education)
OversightToronto Lands Corporation
SuperintendentCurtis Ennis
Area trusteeMaria Rodrigues
School number896519
Grades9-13
Enrollment990
LanguageEnglish
Schedule typeSemestered
Team nameBrockton Rams
Public transit accessTTC:
North/South: 29 Dufferin
Rapid Transit: Dufferin

Brockton High School (also known as Brockton HS, BHS, or simply known as Brockton) was a Toronto District School Board learning complex based in the Brockton Village neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada that once operated as Brockton Learning Centre consisting of the Aboriginal Education Centre and the Caring and Safe Schools Brockton program. It was formerly a public and vocational high school operated from 1967 to 1995 by the Toronto Board of Education. The Brockton property, located near Dufferin Mall,[1] is still owned by the Toronto District School Board, and the lot is under construction to be the future Bloor Collegiate Institute. The demolished school site was known for an art installation known as Bloordale Beach during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto.

History

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Brockton High School opened its doors to the community in 1966,[citation needed] as a vocational school.[2]

In 1986, the Toronto Board of Education announced that it planned to close the West Park Secondary School facility by 1988 with the latter campus being given to the Metropolitan Separate School Board (now the Toronto Catholic District School Board).[3] A task force recommended that the student body be transferred to Brockton High School.[4] That year, the Toronto Star wrote that West Park students were expected to be transferred to Brockton.[3] The school received students from West Park.[citation needed]

In 1989 Sandro Contenta of the Toronto Star wrote that students at Brockton told him that if a store in Dufferin Mall is robbed, police go to Brockton to find suspects but that students at Bloor Collegiate Institute are not suspected.[5] In 1991, Andrew Duffy of the Toronto Star wrote that, according to area residents, drug dealers sold drugs in the area around the school.[6] By September 1992, an area mall began housing an area which served as the location of the re-entry program for older students at Brockton and the West Toronto Secondary School's satellite campus for the cooperative education program.[7]

On the afternoon of Wednesday, September 30, 1992 two gang attacks, involving male students traveling alone being beaten and stabbed, occurred. Afterwards many students discussed the incident. Jim Rankin of the Toronto Star wrote that most students blamed "racist gangs" for causing issues at the school.[8] One gang cited by students was the Latin Americans or LAs.[8]

.[2] On Thursday October 20, 1994, a guidance counselor and an assistant principal were shot in their offices.[9] They received chest, leg, and shoulder wounds but remained alive.[10] A 27-year-old student was charged with attempted murder.[9]

Closure and aftermath

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By June 1995, the school was scheduled to close due to declining enrollment.[2] Brockton was scheduled to close in the fall of 1995, with the campus converted into Ursula Franklin Academy, an academic school.[11] Ursula Franklin Academy was scheduled to move into a new campus by September 2002.[12]

Brockton served as the TDSB's Aboriginal Education Centre and the Caring and Safe Schools Brockton programs, and was leased out to several tenants. By July 2007, the Royal Conservatory of Music's bookstore temporarily moved into the former Brockton building as the site had renovations. In October 2006, FoodShare, a non-profit community food security organization founded in 1985, also moved into the building, sharing space with the conservatory.[1] At one point, the Conseil scolaire Viamonde leased Brockton to house its students from the overcrowded Le Collège français until it bought West Toronto Collegiate Institute in 2011. As of 2019, a new secondary school is scheduled to be built on the current Brockton site, to accommodate students from Bloor Collegiate Institute and Alpha Alternative School.[13] The building itself was demolished in July 2019 with the new Bloor Collegiate building currently under construction.

Construction fencing surrounding the site was left in place after demolition of the school was completed, preventing neighbourhood access to a public right-of-way that had been in use on the site for many decades. In the early months of 2020, neighbourhood residents removed parts of the fencing to restore public access to this walkway. On May 25, 2020, amidst the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, "Bloordale Beach" signs appeared at the entrances, and the site was used as an impromptu beach from May 25, 2020 until September 23, 2021.[14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Bain, Jennifer. "FoodShare needs cash to `replant'." Toronto Star. Wednesday July 4, 2007. Retrieved on September 30, 2013. "In October, FoodShare joined the Royal Conservatory in the former Brockton High School at 90 Croatia St., near Dufferin Mall."
  2. ^ a b c Duffy, Andrew. "See related stories on page A1 and A6 West-end high school had history of violence, gangs." Toronto Star. October 21, 1994. Retrieved on September 28, 2013. "Barry Stroud was principal of Brockton for four years until leaving in February to take over the Boyne River Natural Science School in Shelburne. (The school is operated by the Toronto board.)";Brockton, built in the late 1960s as a vocational school, is slated to close in June because of declining enrolment." and "STAR COLOR PHOTO (Welsh): EMERGENCY TREATMENT: Brockton High School guidance counsellor [Ron Dagilis] is wheeled into Sunnybrook Health Science Centre after being shot in his office yesterday. MAP: Dufferin St. area - Brockton High School location STAR CHART AND DRAWING (Alfred Elicierto): What happened at Brockton High CHART (ONT edition): Crime in schools - list of 1993 incidents and number of reported offences 1990, 1993 " and "1990, 1993 Note Shocked and saddened Toronto school board officials struggled" and "It will re- open in the fall as Ursula Franklin Academy, described by board"
  3. ^ a b Contenta, Sandro. "Catholic board wants to take over Toronto's West Park Secondary." Toronto Star. December 17, 1986. News p. A7. Retrieved on July 23, 2013. "The Metro Separate School Board is eager to take over Toronto's West Park Secondary School - due to be closed in 1988 - in a bid to accommodate the board's growing student population.[...]A Toronto Board of Education committee has recommended that the full[...]" and "West Park students are expected to end up in Brockton High School, on Croatia St., south of Bloor St. W. "
  4. ^ "West Park school to be closed by 1988." Toronto Star. December 16, 1986. News p. A7. Retrieved on September 28, 2013. "The task force recommends that West Park start "merging" with Brockton High School, on Croatia St. south of Bloor St. W., in the 1987-88 school year."
  5. ^ Contenta, Sandro. "ONTARIO'S HIGH SCHOOLS The hidden curriculum Students get the message when they're sorted into winners and losers." Toronto Star. June 13, 1989. Life p. B1. Retrieved on October 1, 2013.
  6. ^ Duffy, Andrew. "Woman found slain behind high school." Toronto Star. September 6, 1991. News p. A6. Retrieved on September 30, 2013. "And the area around Brockton High School is used by drug dealers to sell their wares, neighbors say. "
  7. ^ Walker, Susan. "Mall now satellite campus to students." Toronto Star. September 17, 1992. News p. A5. Retrieved on September 30, 2013.
  8. ^ a b Rankin, Jim. "Students 'scared' after 2 gang attacks." Toronto Star. October 3, 1992. Retrieved on September 28, 2013.
  9. ^ a b "2 Toronto teachers shot in offices." Toronto Star. October 21, 1994. Front p. A1. Retrieved on September 28, 2013.
  10. ^ Duncanson, John, Phinjo Gombu, and Joseph Hall. "Two teachers shot at high school." Toronto Star. October 21, 1994. News p. A1. Retrieved on September 30, 2013.
  11. ^ Daly, Rita. "'School of the future' to put math, science first Toronto board's only academy to open next year." Toronto Star. May 11, 1994. News p. A5. Retrieved on September 30, 2013. "The Ursula Franklin Academy - named after the renowned experimental physicist" and "The academy will be set up in Brockton High School on Croatia St., in the"
  12. ^ Rushowy, Kristin. "Board sticks with plan to shut school; Another to move, but be designated as science facility." Toronto Star. February 8, 2001. News p. B03. Retrieved on September 30, 2013. "Meanwhile, Ursula Franklin Academy will be moved by September, 2002, after the trustees quashed a proposal to keep the school at its current site."
  13. ^ "Ontario Helping Build New High School and Community Hub in Toronto". Ontario Newsroom. Ministry of Education. 8 December 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  14. ^ "Watch for sharks: Toronto's newest beach at Bloor and Dufferin has everything — except water". thestar.com. 2020-08-09. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
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