Skip to content

Consolidate and close: New JK-6 school to open Sept. 2019

Consolidated school part of $23M announced today as part of changes to Rainbow Board schools
120617_CR_Schools1
Parent Tara Savard, Energy Minister and Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault, RDSB board chair Doreen Dewar and RDSB Education Director Norm Blaseg attend the announcement of $23 million in provincial funding for a new JK-6 school in New Sudbury and the renovation of four additional schools June 12 at Lasalle Secondary School. (Callam Rodya/Sudbury.com)

The first major actions on a long list of school closures and consolidations approved through the Rainbow District School Board's recent accommodation review happened this morning.

The decisions, which include the closing of nine district schools and consolidating their students through renovations to existing schools and the construction of two additional schools, were approved at a special meeting of the RDSB Feb. 7

This morning, the Ontario Ministry of Education announced $23 million to support five such projects, $12.5 million of which is earmarked for the construction of a new French-immersion JK-6 school to consolidate 387 students from Carl A. Nesbitt P.S., Ernie Checkeris P.S. and Westmout Avenue P.S., which will all be closed.

The additional funding will be dispersed among four area schools destined to grow their student bodies as the result of school closures elsewhere.

Confederation Secondary School is receiving funding to build a new gymnasium while Churchill P.S. will be renovated to accommodate incoming students from Cyril Varney P.S., which will be closed.

Chelmsford Valley District Composite School will also be renovated to make way for incoming students from Chelmsford P.S. (which will be closed) and Grade 7 and 8 students from Larchwood P.S.

Finally, new child care spaces will be created at Levack P.S. by retrofitting underutilized rooms.

The new school, projected to open by Sept. 1, 2019, is likely to be built on or near the grounds of the existing Lasalle Secondary School on Kennedy Street in New Sudbury, said RDSB Director of Education Norm Blaseg today.

“These things tend to take on a life of their own,” said Blaseg about the timeline for the new school's construction. “We're hopeful. As soon as we get back to the office, we'll begin working on the tendering process.”

Blaseg said the new school would be a 21st century facility with high bandwidth capacity and potentially reimagined classroom settings. He said board staff and trustees will be examining new learning environment models based on student feedback.

“What we've heard from students in our surveys is that they don't want traditional classrooms,” he said. “Think about Google corporate spaces — that's where kids are leaning. It's not so much about the equipment as it is about the learning environment.”

The decision by RDSB to close and consolidate so many schools was a contentious one, and the board faced both backlash from the public as well as internal divisions among some trustees.

Though the construction of the new school is being spurred on by the closing of three others, Energy Minister and Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault and RDSB board chair Doreen Dewar were both quick to tout the positives.

“Many parents in New Sudbury wanted to move to a new school so they're excited about this new opportunity,” said Thibeault. “Now, is everyone happy? Probably not, but the majority of people right now are very happy about the opportunity to have a new school.

We're also renovating, we're putting in new gyms, we're creating child care spaces — this helps us to use our schools as community hubs.”

Dewar acknowledged that some parents are unhappy with the consolidations and closures, she said the majority of trustees were behind the changes.

“Although there are some who do not feel this is the way to go, it was thoroughly discussed and trustees felt that this was the way to move forward to be able to provide the kind of education that we need for our students in the future,” Dewar said. “We're overjoyed. Many of the decisions were based on funding availability so this reinforces that those decisions were made within the parameters of being cost-effective and educationally sound.” 

This story has been corrected from an earlier version which stated that Larchwood P.S. is slated for closure.


Comments

Verified reader

If you would like to apply to become a verified commenter, please fill out this form.




About the Author: Patrick Demers

Read more