Two east-end high schools plagued with questionable learning conditions for years are set to have their portable classrooms replaced.

Last week Ottawa-Orléans MPP Phil McNeely announced the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB) will receive $5.5 million to improve school accommodations at both St. Matthew and Lester B. Person Catholic high schools.

According to school board chair Gordon Butler, the money will be used to get rid of the portable classrooms at St. Matthew and Lester B. Pearson. The challenge, however, will be determining precisely how that will be accomplished, he indicated.

Butler explained both schools have already had additions and there might be some constraints on the board’s ability to “push out the buildings.”

The solution could be a combination of permanent and temporary structures, Butler indicated, noting the board will have a better idea what its options are in a few weeks.

“We’re working on the logistics of what can be built,” he said, adding the board wants to work on a solution as quickly as possible.

The funding announcement is welcome news for parents like Mike Buzzetti, who has been calling for an addition to St. Matt’s for almost two years now and even launched a petition to help secure money for the project.

“Today I’m really thrilled,” he said after news of the funding commitment was made public. “I think it’s great. It’s just awesome.”

Various incarnations of the school’s parent councils have been battling for more space for the past decade, he explained in an earlier interview. Buzzetti recalled standing in a church last year and having people come up to him whose children and grand-children attended classes in St. Matt’s portables.

The learning conditions in the 22 portable classrooms were dismal, with students skipping class because the rooms were too hot or noisy, Buzzetti indicated. Parents also lodged complaints about mouse droppings and silverfish in the structures and raised concerns about air quality.

Conditions weren’t much better at Lester B. Pearson. Last summer the parent council at the Ogilvie Road high school asked the board for a 14-classroom addition to replace the 15 portables on site. At the time, then-school council chair Fred Haggart indicated there were health and safety concerns, noting there were heating and lighting problems, no washrooms in the structures, and a high rate of vandalism.

“Even our students are getting disgruntled,” he said at the time.

Ottawa-Orléans OCSB trustee Stephen Blais said the funding announcement is “very positive news,” despite falling 1.5 million short of the board’s request. However, the money will be put to good use to address concerns at both schools, he noted.

While Buzzetti’s child will be graduating this year and won’t benefit from any structural changes to St. Matt’s, he noted he’s happy to see the learning environment improved for students still coming through the system, whether that means a full addition to the school or a combination that would see some of the dilapidated portable classrooms replaced with newer models.

“It took 11 years’ worth of parent councils to fight this fight,” Buzzetti said. “It’s been a long journey.”