Extensive roof repairs have board looking at right-sizing St. Paul

After finding out the roof at St. Paul Catholic Elementary School in Coniston needs unexpected replacement a month before school is to begin, the Sudbury Catholic District School Board is looking at “right sizing” the school, the board chair told NorthernLife.ca this week.

The roof repairs at St. Paul were part of the board's regular summer maintenance, but it was soon discovered that “the entire roof would need to be replaced, as opposed to the sections that we thought needed to be addressed,” said board chair Jody Cameron.

With that section of the school now unusable, some grades and the school's day care centre will have to be relocated.

Cameron said because St. Paul School has unused space available, the board is looking at demolishing the unusable part of the building instead of repairing the whole roof.

“If we're going to be having to replace entire roofs and such, maybe we should be looking to right-size the building, and making sure we're fixing only the building that we require,” he said.

Cameron said he doesn't have an estimate on how much this would cost, as the issue only came up recently, but the board will work with the Ministry of Education to see if they can get funding.

“It's all preliminary right now,” he said. “We're looking at all options and evaluating everything.”

That the school has unused space also means the grades affected by the closure of that wing of St. Paul can be relocated within the school, rather than having to find accommodations at another school, Cameron said.

Daycare services at the school, which are provided by Teddy Bear Day Care Centre, can also continue to be provided at the school, he said.

“We're not looking at impacting any of those types of services,” Cameron said.