JUST IN TIME
I.E. Weldon Secondary School at 50 One of the most famous stories in human history involves the people of ancient Israel crossing the River Jordan and entering the Promised Land (in today’s Middle East). Originally recorded in the Hebrew Bible, this story was alluded to by the writer of “The New Jerusalem” — an address given at Lindsay Collegiate & Vocational Institute on June 8, 1971. This address (which resides today in the collection of the Victoria County Historical Society), likens students at overcrowded LCVI to the ancient Israelites crossing a
IAN McKECHNIE Writer-at-large
went on to teach mathematics at Weldon. A rotation of four classes for part of the student population occurred from 8:10 a.m. through 2:30 p.m.; another four were in session from 11:15 a.m. through 5:25 p.m. Upper-year students were kept to regular hours. Logistical challenges involved in busing out-oftown students meant that those who were saddled with the later timetable lived in Lindsay proper, and sometimes got home after dark. (“Two kind teachers, Mrs. Murray and Mrs. Jung, stayed behind and coached
I.E. Weldon Secondary School. Photo: Erin Burrell.
river and entering the promised land, the New Jerusalem, “a city set on a hill” — that is, the newly completed I.E. Weldon Secondary School, which in 2021 marks its 50th anniversary. The imagery invoked in that address was apt, for conditions at LCVI were not ideal by the late 1960s, when the student population outgrew the aged structure and had many decision makers looking at the feasibility of constructing a second high school elsewhere in Lindsay. As anyone who attended LCVI during that time can attest, the rhythm of school life was unusual to say the least. “When I first went to LCVI to teach in 1968, we were running three shifts,” recalls Doug Brenner, who
us in sports,” remembers one of my aunts, who was enrolled at LCVI during those hectic years.) Described by the astutely observant reporter Ford Moynes as “modernistic almost to the extreme,” and officially opened on Nov. 30, 1971, the new building was named in honour of Isaac Ernest Weldon (18731962), a philanthropically-minded Lindsay lawyer who believed strongly in the value of public education. The student population in 1971-72 consisted of some 740 students, with a staff of just under 50 — a far cry from the ratio of 1,800 students to 100-plus staff at LCVI only a few years before. “It was a real relief when the new school opened,” Brenner observes.
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