Flemingdon Park community feels the impact of the closure of Ontario Science Center with several students in the neighborhood left with low summer science programs.
One of those programs is the Ontario Science Center School, which has now been canceled for the second straight year.
On their website, Science Center Said that they are looking for opportunities for the future.
Citynews received an internal email from the Science Center, which was sent to the employees about the school which did not return this year. A part of the letter said that they are looking for the best fit for the space supporting students.
Floid Ruskin, co-chairman of the Science Center of Save Ontario, said, “TDSB schools are very empty at this time of the year, Valley Park Middle School is just below the road.” It is only wrong to blame it if not the appropriate place. “
The school running in this summer was extended to Grade 12 students. Salim Saeed, a resident of Nebarhood, said that teenagers are missing in the area.
“I really feel for children in grades 11 and 12 because it’s something that has been taken away from them,” said.
Saeed’s son, Mohammad Ryan is not yet in high school, but is still disappointed about the lack of learning opportunities that lived away from his home.
“The main thing that I really wanted to do was the Youth-Foreoth Innovation Program where the children of the middle school could voluntarily do volunteers to get a close view inside the science center,” Ryan said. “We could go there every week, but now when it is closed, we cannot really go there.”
The Science Center currently performs pop up at Sherve Garden and Harborfront Center. But Saeed said that this is a lot of distance for families in the Flemingdon Park area.
“I am not able to go because the main reason is that both places are inaccessible for us.”
Ruskin said, “I personally have no problem with pop-ups or many pop ups, I think it is good to share science experience.” “But this complete interactive, science experience is a very, very poor excuse for children that children have for the last 55 years.”
The internal letter of the Science Center also said that they are working to find options for the program to return next year. Meanwhile, the Science Center of Group Save Ontario has participated with the Go Green Youth Center and TMU Sciences to provide two-day STEM summer programs for Flemingdon and Thorncliffe Leaders-in-training youth.
The Provincial Government on 21 June 2024 announced that the science center at its original Don Mills Road and Aglinton Avenue location will be permanently closed, citing an engineering report on the roof condition of the building.
The inauguration of the new Science Center at Ontario Place is temporarily determined for 2029.
With files from Canadian press
