Rainbow board considers move out of downtown office

After reviewing schools in various parts of the city over the past decade — and even closing a few — the Rainbow board's senior administrators are now undertaking a review of their own work space.

Trustees voted at their Jan. 27 meeting in favour of the review, which will take place over the next year, and will also include office space for educational support staff.

Rainbow board director of education Norm Blaseg explained the board's main office, located in downtown Sudbury at 69 Young St., has a lack of parking and requires significant upgrades, including to its heating and ventilation systems.

Support services are at a number of locations, including Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School, Lively District Secondary School, Northeastern Elementary School, Lockerby Composite School and Chelmsford Valley District Composite School.

Ideally, the board would like to consolidate its senior administrators and support staff in one location, Blaseg said. For financial reasons, only current board properties are being considered.

“Instead of putting good money after bad, we said 'Why don't we go out and take a look to see what else we can do?'” he said.

This review falls in line with a Ministry of Education directive for boards to examine how they can reduce their financial commitments, including by reducing surplus space, Blaseg said.

“If there's an opportunity, why shouldn't we be looking at it?” he said.