French Catholic school board gets $16.5 M from province to build new, central school
Plans for new school comes when Sudbury's English public board is scaling back
After receiving a $16.5 million boost from the province, Sudbury's French Catholic School board is going to close three schools in Hanmer to make way for one central school.
When the school is finally built, students from École Notre-Dame, École St-Joseph and École Ste-Thérèse will move into the new facility.
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Though the location of the proposed school hasn't been decided yet, Conseil Scolaire Catholique du Nouvel-Ontario board chair Andre Bidal said parents with more than one child will likely find one central building more convenient.
"Parents, a lot of them bring their children to school, and you have daycare at three o'clock in one school and then four to eight o'clock in the other school," said Bidal. "Parents are going back and forth from one school to another.
"So I think that's the main idea behind having one central school that parents can be able to go to just one place."
According to Bidal, the schools planned for closure are outdated, and cannot support additions.
Ideas for the new school, he said, include outfitting it with the latest technology.
"We are looking at either solar panels or different, new methods of heating and lighting," Bidal said.
"We'll have the top end technology."
The board's announcement comes at a time when Sudbury's Rainbow District School Board is holding accommodation reviews to consider closing or merging 12 elementary and secondary schools.