City Rejects Sports Field Funding for New High School

With 29 community sport fields in Oshawa already not being used to their full potential, the Durham Catholic District School Board’s proposal to collaborate with the city on funding a sports field at a high school currently being built was turned down at the Community and Operations Services Committee meeting on Monday morning.

The school board is in the process of constructing a replacement for Monsignor Paul Dwyer Catholic High School located at the southeast corner of Greenhill Avenue and Harmony Road in north-east Oshawa. In October, they requested $400,000 from the city to add outdoor lighting for an 11v11 natural turf field and track.

The city has previously contributed $250,000 towards outdoor lighting for the renovated sport field and track at Monsignor John Pereyma Catholic Secondary School and will provide field time for local sports organizations on Wednesday and Thursday evenings at that school.

The 29 sports fields identified as community sports fields in Oshawa – with only three having lighting – had a prime-time usage rate of 58 percent (up from 50 percent in 2023). Staff thanked the school board for this “opportunity” to assist with funding but advised the committee that “based on current and forecasted utilization rates of outdoor sports fields the city respectfully declines the opportunity to enter into an agreement at this time.”

The new high school is projected to open in fall 2027.