CSCNO hopes to build new Valley-area elementary school

The other option being considered is to combine Ste-Thérèse, St. Joseph and École Notre-Dame — a junior kindergarten to Grade 8 school located in Hanmer — into a 600-student school.

Because there isn't enough room to build a new school on two of the schools' sites, and it would be tight on the third, the board has come up with 11 potential sites in the area to build the new school.

CSCNO chair Andre Bidal explains all three schools are around 50 years old, and are starting to show their age. Board estimates show the building will need a collective $25 million in repairs over the next 25 years.

“If you look at the cost of repair on these schools, if you project it over 25 years, the cost of repair ... will come up to about the same of building a new one,” he said. “Definitely it will be worth it.”

Parents have until Aug. 18 to comment on the plans on the CSCNO's website, www.nouvelon.ca. Trustees will make a decision on the matter at their Sept. 29 meeting.