Located on the campus of Lasalle Secondary, students will begin attending the elementary school in September
Education Minister Stephen Lecce toured the new Lasalle Elementary School today.
Located on the campus of Lasalle Secondary School, the new school in New Sudbury opens to students in September.
“It’s a beautiful school and I think it’s going to really strengthen the learning experience and outcomes for young people up here,” Lecce told reporters today. “I’m grateful to the board for their collaboration. It’s been a long time coming. The province, our government did provide an additional $3.7 million just to get it done.
“And I think it’s gonna create a lot of opportunity for young people to learn, and with the focus on STEM education, science, technology, engineering and math, it aligns well with our broader vision of getting back to the basics of education and strengthening those fundamental skills.”
Serving junior kindergarten to Grade 6 students, children who attended Carl A. Nesbitt, Ernie Checkeris and Westmount Avenue schools are to attend the new elementary school. The 47,480-square-foot, three-storey building has 19 classrooms and a gymnasium.
Lecce pointed out the school will also have a child care centre, an EarlyON centre and CVR ventilation and technology.
Construction delays saw the school open a year later than originally planned.
The project also ran into cost escalations. The original funding approved by the Ministry of Education in August 2017 was $12.6 million. However, as of early last fall, the board said the cost had escalated to approximately $17.1 million.
The Rainbow Board set up an ad hoc committee to work on naming the new school.
Sitting on the committee were staff, students and parent representatives of all three of the aforementioned schools, as well as community representatives, a trustee and the area board superintendent.
Rainbow board director of education Bruce Bourget told Sudbury.com in the spring that the process used by the committee was very similar to the one used in the naming of the board’s Walden Public School.
“Throughout that practice, the groups came up with a variety of names,” he said. “They voted on the names, and there were two names that rose to the top of the list. One was New Sudbury Elementary School, and the other was Lasalle Elementary School.”
The board’s executive council (meaning senior board staff) looked at these two recommendations and decided to put forward the name recommendation for Lasalle Elementary School to trustees.