Reopening date for Elizabeth Ziegler Public School still not known

WRDSB closed a school earlier this week due to structural concerns, but it’s not the only school with maintenance issues. CTV’s Colton Wiens reports.

Students who attend the oldest operating school in the City of Waterloo will have to wait another week to find out when in-person classes will resume.

The Waterloo Region District School Board announced the closure of Elizabeth Ziegler Public School on Monday, citing safety concerns about the façade of the Moore Avenue building.

“We’re very mindful that this is unsettling for families, and we want to provide that clarity as soon as we possibly can,” said Bill Lemon, the WRDSB’s associate director of business services.

As of Friday, there was still a missing piece on the façade.

Lemon said students were instructed to work on previously assigned material this week, as their remote learning equipment wouldn’t be available.

“Because of the state that the building is in, we haven’t been able to deploy devices,” Lemon explained. “So, we couldn’t make a move.”

As next week is March break for public school students, workers will have more time to inspect the building.

“They are continuing, methodically, to work through the school with their testing,” Lemon said.

It’s not yet clear, however, if the building will be ready to reopen by the time students are supposed to return in class. Families have been told that an answer may not come until the end of next week.

“We are setting Friday as our target for an update for the community,” Lemon explained. “We feel confident that we’ll be able to provide that by Friday. If not, we will, at least, give a holding message around that.”

The school was named after Elizabeth Ziegler, who spent 58 years as a teacher with the Waterloo Region District School Board and was also Waterloo County’s first female principal.

Elizabeth Ziegler Public School was the third elementary school built in Waterloo. It was constructed in 1931, during the Great Depression, and built in the Gothic Revival style, with a stone entrance, stone turrets and copper-topped domes. The school was designated a heritage landmark in 1985, which Lemon said is another reason they are doing extra due diligence.

“That’s why the building inspector is working so closely with us,” he told CTV News. “They are definitely, paying attention to this circumstance because of the status of that central core building.”

A report from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario found that, as of March 31, 2024, 55 WRDSB schools were below a state of good repair. Lemon wasn’t sure if Elizabeth Ziegler Public School was one of the 55, but said the school board is always working to improve their buildings.

“We do have a comprehensive, capital improvement plan. We are aware of those building conditions; that’s actually something that we report back on annually. Our facilities department is well aware of those of those conditions and there’s also a realization that we need to be strategic about that spend.”

The City of Waterloo, meanwhile, said it does have procedures in place for emergency repairs on heritage properties.

If the school can’t reopen after March break, Lemon said the board will make sure students can attend classes remotely.

Reaction from families

On Friday, CTV News spoke to a parent who said she’s happy the board is keeping students safe.

“My son, who goes to Elizabeth Ziegler, came home and said, ‘a piece fell off the school.’ It was scary,” explained Shawna Reibling. “I know that the school is acting with an abundance of caution, but we were shocked. The timing, that they would just close the school, was shocking. We didn’t have a lot of time to prepare because no one can prepare for a piece of the school falling down.”

She worries that, if the school remains closed after March break, it’s going to be an even bigger challenge for parents.

“I’m not sure what we would do,” Reibling said. “We’re very lucky that we have family support that we can count on. I know some older kids in the area are babysitting to cover the gap, but it’s going to be really hard on parents to find last minute childcare.”