The Grand Erie District School Board is looking into the option of tearing down Elgin Avenue Public School and building a brand new school on the land.
This change came after the board heard back from the Ministry regarding Elgin Avenue’s reconstruction going millions of dollar over budget in the planning stages.
The Province recommended that trustees now submit plans for Elgin to the Capital Priorities Program – a program where the board submits business cases identifying their urgent pupil accommodation needs.
This new school would enroll current Elgin students as well as students from West Lynn Public School.
Students would require temporary accommodation plans for the entire construction period and once construction is done – West Lynn would be shut down and the building would be sold.
A lengthy ARC process ultimately determined that renovations to Elgin Avenue Public School were the best course of action with the board at the time moving forward with this idea.
It wasn’t until they received cost estimates several million dollars over budget that the board paused the project.
At one time, the board was debating moving forward with sending students from Elgin to West Lynn and purchasing land at West Lynn for expansion.
They decided to hold off on this decision until they received correspondence with the province.
Previously the Board has submitted two items in the Capital Priorities Program – a new school in Southwest Brantford and a new school in Caledonia.
The recent interaction with the Ministry caused them to add this third item to the list.
