THUNDER BAY — The Lakehead District School Board has confirmed the sale of Edgewater Park Public School to the Conseil scolaire public du Grand Nord de l'Ontario.
That board, based in Sudbury, will reopen the Edgewater site as Thunder Bay's first French-language public school in September 2023.
The Victoria Avenue building has been vacant since 2020.
It was declared surplus after Lakehead Public Schools built the new Ecole Elsie McGill Public School on Churchill Drive, and transferred students from Edgewater and Agnew H. Johnston schools there.
Director of education Sherri-Lynne Pharand said Wednesday the Ministry of Education requires school boards to offer surplus properties to a list of preferred purchasers, including other school boards.
"Maintaining a building, the heating and lighting, keeping a building in good repair is an expense that is heavy on a school board if there aren't any students there. And our buildings are funded by the number of pupils we have and the number of pupil places we require."
"If someone else is able to use that building and give it a new life, it's value-added for the community as a whole," Pharand added.
She declined to reveal how much the property was sold for, saying "that's a closed-session item."
Pharand expressed her best wishes for the Conseil scolaire public du Grand Nord as it begins preparations for its new school.
More information about its plans will be disclosed on Oct. 4.
