Sir James Dunn Collegiate and Vocational School

Sir James Dunn Collegiate and Vocational School
Location
1601 Wellington Street East Sault Ste. Marie , Ontario , P6A 2R8 Canada
Coordinates	46°30′31″N 84°17′19″W
Information
Type	Public secondary school
Established	October 30, 1957 (1957-10-30)
Closed	June 25, 2010 (2010-06-25)
School district	Algoma District School Board
Grades	9-12
Color(s)	Green and gold
Mascot	Eagle
Nickname	Eagles
Yearbook	Aquila

Sir James Dunn Collegiate and Vocational School (SJD, The Dunn) was a secondary school that operated at 1601 Wellington Street East in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario from 1957 to 2010. It was named for Canadian financier and industrialist James Hamet Dunn (1874-1956). The building was demolished in August 2016.

History

Sir James Dunn Collegiate and Vocational School was Sault Ste. Marie's third public secondary school and its first comprehensive school, combining education in trades and academics.

Facing over-crowding at the city’s two high schools, in 1955 the board of education began planning for a third secondary school to relieve Sault Collegiate Institute and Sault Technical and Commercial School. The board estimated that by 1959, spaces would be needed for nearly 1,000 new students beyond what could be managed by the existing schools.

In August 1955 the board of education received city council’s approval for a $854,000 debenture to build a new secondary school on the land to the north of the Shingwauk Indian Residential School in the city's south-east. While some argued for a school in the west end of the city where none existed, the board’s chair Orval Grant countered that population growth was trending towards the east end of the city. He told councillors “We are not overly happy with the proposed location. However, it is the only available one at this time.”

In February 1956, the board of education announced that following a request from his widow, the new composite school would be named for industrialist Sir James Hamet Dunn who had rescued Algoma Steel in 1935 and had passed away the month prior.

By March 1956, the Ontario government had approved the plans for the new high school to be built on the grounds north of Shingwalk and tenders for construction were issued. The board began planning for the new school to initially accommodate over 500 students in grades nine and ten in the first year.

While construction was underway, Sir James Dunn students attended the Technical and Commercial School on a staggered basis for the 1956-57 school year.

The building was constructed over the next two years and officially opened on October 30, 1957. At 6,800 m², the two-story structure consisted of approximately 17 classrooms, two gymnasiums, a lunch room, library and auto, machine and word working shops, and rooms for drafting, art and music. Over the next 31 years, the school would expand four times. In 1961, 5,000 m² were added for a new cafeteria, staff room, kitchen, additional classrooms, a shop area, and additional washrooms. In 1965, a space for team sports storage and weight room was added, as well as a new music room, and new classrooms on the second floor. In 1968, a machine shop was added on the first floor. And in 1988, a 525 m² library was added.

In its final form, the school consisted of 36 classrooms, six science laboratories, seven technology shops, two gymnasiums with two sets of change rooms, a library with study areas, a family studies room, a music room, a cafeteria, a theatre, a weight room, a staff room, as well as several offices and meeting rooms.

For the first seven months of the 1988-89 school year, Sir James Dunn students shared the school with students from White Pines Collegiate in the city’s east end while that school was undergoing rehabilitation. Dunn students attended from 8 am to noon, while White Pines students had classes from 1 to 5 pm.

With the school-aged population beginning to decrease in the early 2000s, the school board was faced with a reversal of the trend that had necessitated the construction of Sir James Dunn fifty years earlier. In 2003 the school board undertook a system-wide study to make “recommendations for the effective use of facilities.” The study found that while the school's 1994 enrolment had neared its capacity of 1,166, current enrolment was 77 per cent of that capacity and projected to fall to only 56 per cent in five years. Further, the physical assessment of the building identified a range of deficiencies with electrical, ventilation and windows. In June 2008, the school board took the decision to close Sir James Dunn, as well as Bawating Collegiate in the city’s north-west in order to combine the remaining enrolment in a new high school for the 2010-11 school year.

While the new school was being constructed at the former Bawating site, students attended classes for the 2010-11 school year at the Sir James Dunn building which was temporary re-named Superior Heights. The new school, Superior Heights Collegiate and Vocational School opened at 750 North Street for the 2011-12 school year.

For a time following its closure as a school, the building operated as the Sir James Dunn Centre and was the home of the community's Christmas Cheer Depot.

With items and equipment having been removed or auctioned off earlier that year, the Sir James Dunn building was demolished in August 2016.

Enrolment

The school had a peak enrolment of 1,161 students in 1994, very near its full capacity of 1,166. The school's catchment area included the central-eastern part of the city, bordered by East Street to the west and Boundary Road to the east, with its northern portion extending as far as the P-Patch neighbourhood north of McNabb Street.

Public elementary schools that fed enrolment at Sir James Dunn included Alex Muir, Anna McCrea, Ben R. McMullin, East View, Queen Elizabeth, River View and Rosedale public schools.

Activities

The school was recognized in its community for its leading music, arts, and athletics programs, with its students having won many local sports championships and arts and music competitions. An Eagle mascot represented its sports teams and clubs.

Dunnplugged was a concert performed by students in the school theatre during lunch hour. Performances included bands, instrumentalists, and acoustic performances. Proceeds from these performances allowed the school to record full CDs with original music written by students. Notable bands included The Chuck Herriman Experience,The Tenagens, Fabio, Brain Tuel, Kalle Mattson, Cookies for Breakfast, Lankee, Caddy Street Avenue, Renderware, as well as the Kiss tribute band "Creatures of the Night."

Notable alumni

• Dr. Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian female astronaut and the first neurologist in space
• Caleb Flaxey, Canadian curler
• Wayne Gretzky, Canadian professional hockey player and coach
• Tanya Kim, television personality and host
• Kalle Mattson, singer-songwriter
• Karl Morin-Strom, Member of Provincial Parliament for Sault Ste. Marie (1985-1990)
• Treble Charger, rock band formed at Sir James Dunn by students Greig Nori, Bill Priddle, Rosie Martin, and Richard Mulligan

Popular culture

Prior to its demolition, the school was used as a shooting location for the 2016 film The Void.