User:Paul Chomik/New Toronto Secondary School (NTSS)

New Toronto Secondary School (NTSS)

New Toronto Secondary School was located in the Town of New Toronto, Ontario, now a suburb in the southwesteern corner of the City of Toronto. It operated under that name from its opening in 1950 until 1983, when it was renamed "Lakeshore Collegiate Institute" (LCI), which is still in use today.

New Toronto Secondary School (NTSS) was founded because the Town of New Toronto had a high concentration of industry which required manpower for their operations. The need for a school focusing on the skilled trades had been evident for some time.

After WWII, the local school board proceeded with discussions to build such a school within The Lakeshore Area. The Long Branch Continuation School, which was providing high school education for New Toronto and Long Branch, was struggling to keep up with capacity pressures. Mimico High School, which was business-oriented, was the only other high school operating in The Lakeshore area at the time.

As a result, land was secured at the northwest corner of Birmingham Street and Eighteenth St. (now Kipling Avenue). Construction commenced and the new high school was opened for the 1950 school year. The first graduating classes were in 1951.

Due to the "Baby Boom" of the post-WWII era, additional capacity was required in The Lakeshore high school system. As a result, in 1965, the size of New Toronto Secondary School was almost doubled.

Due to the extension of public funding to Ontario separate schools in the early 1980s, by the Ontario Government of Bill Davis, transfer of funding and students to separate schools caused a crisis in public school system. The loss of students required the closure of some public schools.

New Toronto Secondary School was originally slated to be closed, however, community action and the facts that the school was centrally located in The Lakeshore and it was the only school with technical shops to teach skilled trades ultimately determined that it would remain as the area's public high school.

In 1983, Alderwood Collegiate Institute in Alderwood was closed, and NTSS was renamed Lakeshore Collegiate Institute. In 1985, Mimico High School closed, and all public high school students in The Lakeshore would attend LCI from that time.