CALGARY- A historic Calgary school that was badly damaged in the June flood will likely be torn down rather than restored.
Elbow Park Elementary School, built in 1926, was partly split open when flood waters rushed in. Preliminary estimates put the rebuild cost around $9 million, which would be covered by insurance and money from the province.
Now, both the Calgary Board of Education and the school’s parents council say they’d rather start over.
“We think we can get a better school that is better suited, I mean, this school is almost 100 years old,” says Nathan MacBey from the Elbow Park Parents Council. “It will be better technologically and more flexible and more efficient for the kids.”
The new building would look similar to the original brick structure, and keep many of its heritage features.
For now, the 200 displaced students are taking classes at Eugene Coste School, and will be moved to modulars beside Earl Grey School in Mount Royal when they’re complete.
The new Elbow Park school is expected to open in 2017.
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