With funding in place, the St. Clair Catholic District School Board is getting to get to work on building two new schools in Chatham. 
The province has announced $26.7-million in funding, but other than a general idea of where the schools should go, Director of Education Dan Parr says nothing has been decided.
“Up until now our discussions with any prospective sellers or buyers had to be hypothetical because we didn’t have the funding to actually engage in serious conversation,” Parr says. “Now we’re in the market for acreage and it’s not hypothetical, we’re looking for land of eight to 10 acres, a parcel on the north side of Chatham and a similar parcel on the south side.”
The Board hopes to have the two new schools up and running by September, 2019, a goal which Parr says is definitely aggressive, but doable.
The provincial funding includes having child care facilities at both locations.