REGINA – Time may be running out on Regina’s historic Connaught School.
A new engineer’s report says the structure, built in 1912, is “on the verge of collapse.”
“The foundation will not support that school longer than 2015,” said Regina Public Schools board chair Katherine Gagne.
Students may be out of Connaught sooner than that though, as the report recommends the school’s doors be closed at the end of the 2013-14 school year.
“We cannot do any structural renovation with the students in the building,” said Gagne. “The cost of renovation would be significantly over the cost to rebuild.”
At least $4-million to $5-million more, the board says, though the school isn’t unsafe at this time.
A tour of the school’s interior one year ago showed cracks and crumbling from the basement to classrooms, but community members aren’t giving up.
“This school board isn’t interested in fixing buildings, they’re interested in replacing buildings,” said Rene Dumont, chair of Save Our Connaught Heritage.
The group has made repeated requests to have testing done by conservation specialists, but they’ve been denied. The board says it would serve no benefit.
A closure would leave the future of a school in the Cathedral district up in the air.
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“If they disband the school and disperse the students all over the city, who’s to say there will even be a school here?” Dumont asked. “Once the kids leave they may never come back to this spot.”
Regina Public Schools says the preference is to continue with a school in Cathedral, but if Connaught closes its doors, a return may be several years away.
“It’s a three-to-four year window from the point of approval (of a new school) to the ability to have students enter a building,” said Julie MacRae, RPS’ director of education.
When asked if there was any way students could attend Connaught until a new school was built, MacRae responded, “No,” which would leave 300 students out of their classrooms until at least 2017.
The board says a decision could be made at its next meeting in early March.
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