A Saint John school at the centre of a court battle with the New Brunswick government is back in the public spotlight.
It’s been about nine months since students roamed the halls at Lorne Middle School after it lost its fight to remain open. The school is now being used in a limited fashion, but some would like to see that change in a big way.
A committee wants the building to live on and host a number of community organizations. A big part of it is ONE Change, a group focused on improving Saint John’s north end. Executive director Barry Galloway says they couldn’t pass up the chance to make the school a neighbourhood asset.
“Moving in a health centre, other services for neighbourhood residents so that we can essentially give them better opportunities to move forward with their lives,” he said, adding it would also help the adjoining Nick Nicolle Community Centre.
“If we had access to the school to provide other additional space and supports, I think that it’s really going to benefit our neighbourhood residents.”
A sustainability study is underway and partners would have to be secured to cover annual costs of about $85,000.
The province says no final decisions on the building have been made.
The City of Saint John is also a big player and Coun. John MacKenzie sees it aligning with the goal of reducing poverty.
“Getting the health clinic in and getting other services in the building, it certainly goes a long way to helping out with the poverty issue,” he said.
In the meantime, the school’s gym is active most days and on Wednesday hosted a Saint John Mill Rats basketball camp.
One participant knows the surroundings well — Andrew Craft is a former student who was forced to move to another school.
“The first few weeks it was a little rough because it was a new school, but now I’m used to it and it’s really good,” he said.
Craft says he also wants to see the building continue to be used.
“I don’t want this building standing here abandoned. I want to see it being used because it’s a really nice school,” he said.
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