Future of historic Stuart Wood elementary up for discussion at public meeting tonight

NEWS — The future of the historic Stuart Wood elementary school is up for discussion at a public meeting tonight.

The meeting will start at 7 p.m. in the Henry Grube Education Centre, 245 Kitchener Crescent.

The issue arose during a Kamloops-Thompson school board review of school populations in the city over the past several months. The board is proposing to close Stuart Wood and relocate students to the Beattie campus on McGill Road.

They say Stuart Wood, built in 1906-07, has become outdated for school purposes because it isn’t wheelchair accessible and the gymnasium is too small.

Assistant superintendent Karl deBruijn, who takes over as superintendent Aug. 1, has written that Stuart Wood “is not well suited to a modern school.” He said the Beattie school site at McGill Road “would offer a more modern building and address the shortcomings of the Stuart Wood site.”

Parents of students at the school, however, have a different view, and many have expressed their opposition to closure.

The full text of the staff recommendation to the board states: “That the board set the date for a public meeting to hear presentations on the possible consolidation of Beattie School of the Arts into one building at the John Peterson campus on Ninth Avenue and to hear presentations on the possible closure of Stuart Wood elementary school and the possible relocation of the staff and students at Stuart Wood elementary at the Beattie campus on McGill Road.”