For Immediate Release
March 21, 2007

Sterling lobbies for addition to Huntley Centennial P.S.
Calls on McGuinty to provide funding to overcrowded schools

Queen's Park, Toronto - Lanark-Carleton MPP Norm Sterling today expressed his desire to see Huntley Centennial Public School in Carp expanded and asked Premier McGuinty to provide funding to help overcrowded schools accommodate the government's 20-student cap.
Mr. Sterling explained the situation at Huntley Centennial, which he visited on February 7, and went on request financial help for schools like Huntley Centennial where existing overcrowding is being made worse by the 20-student cap.
Mr. Sterling's statement in the Ontario Legislature follows:

Tomorrow night I will be at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board to speak in support of a motion to expand Huntley Centennial Public School in Carp.

On February 7, I toured the school with the local trustee Lynn Scott and parent Tracey Brown. The need for an expansion is obvious. Huntley Centennial has an enrolment of 555 students in a building which should have a maximum of 360 students. This year, the school has nine portables and next year, when the 20-student cap is in place up to grade three, the school will need 15 portables. Quite frankly, there's not enough space on the existing site to place the additional six portables.

This school is overcrowded, and with new subdivisions planned in the community, Huntley Centennial desperately needs an addition. Today I call on the McGuinty government to provide the necessary funding to help overcrowded schools accommodate the additional classes created at least in part by the 20-student cap. I ask that Huntley Centennial in Carp be one of the first to be given consideration for that much-needed funding.

For more information, please call Lanark-Carleton MPP Norm Sterling at: (416) 314-7900