An enrollment decline and structural deficiencies led School District trustees to the tough decision to shut Central Fort George Traditional School on August 31, said School District superintendent of schools, Brian Pepper.
It will be the first time in 96 years the site will sit quiet during the school year.
A report published in early January in 2010 put forward school closure recommendations in response to the financial challenge - the school district faced a deficit of $7 million in 2010/11 and that would climb to $11 million in 2014/15.
"Part of the response to the structural deficit and the fact the enrollment was declining was to close schools so that we weren't paying for empty space," said Pepper. "One of the schools that we put up for closure was Central Fort George Traditional elementary school." Projections indicated a drop from 170 to 158 students, he said.
Since it was a choice school, the catchment encompasses the whole district. So recommendations also included amalgamating the catchment with Harwin elementary and providing students the choice to attend Harwin or attend school in their geographical catchment.
After public consultation, the school board decided on March 30 to close Central Fort George a year later, amalgamating the traditional program with Spruceland elementary.
"That would give the community some time to work together to determine what kind of school it would be," said Pepper. "Would it be a dual track [both traditional and regular programming] school or single track [just traditional] - what would it look like?"
Spruceland elementary has seen a lot of change in the past few years.
During 2009/10 year, the French immersion program left Spruceland, for the 2010/11 year it was regular programming and for 2011/12, it becomes solely a traditional school, making it a choice school.
"The elected board of education is very committed to choice programming and the traditional program has been a vibrant and exciting and a positive place for kids," said Pepper.
"The board is committed to the work done in the traditional school and I think this amalgamation and formation of a traditional school will be an exciting option for kids and I think it's going to be a wonderful place for students to be."
Pepper said Spruceland is a lovely building which will now see a larger population since most traditional school students will attend while the majority of the Spruceland catchment students will remain.
"It's gone very well and that's attributed to the Parent Advisory Councils of both schools, the parents and students and administration of both schools," said Pepper. "They've really worked hard to put together a brand new school for September 2011."
The Central Fort George Traditional school is closed and the grounds and building will be maintained to city standards while the board determines their fate.
