Closure of Stuart Wood elementary in front of Kamloops-Thompson school board on Monday

NEWS/ SCHOOLS — The future of the historic Stuart Wood elementary school will be put in front of Kamloops-Thompson school trustees Monday night when Supt. Terry Sullivan submits a report on the building.

Letters to the board and a public meeting March 27 sent a clear message that many residents want the building to be kept as an elementary school even though district administrators say it’s too outdated and should be closed.

The closure would be part of a reshuffling of schools and students that would see Stuart Wood kids move to the Beattie campus on McGill Road. Assistant superintendent Karl deBruijn believes the McGill Road site “would offer a more modern building and address the shortcomings of the Stuart Wood site.”

Sullivan agrees that the building is substandard and would require a lot of expenditure to keep it as a school.

Under the staff’s plan, Beattie School of the Arts would move into the John Peterson campus on Ninth Avenue. Trustee Annette Glover has proposed an alternative plan to move Stuart Wood students into Lloyd George elementary and Lloyd George students to Beattie.

The issue prompted the formation of a new Downtown-West End neighbourhood association last month, with the future of Stuart Wood being its No. 1 issue. The Stuart Wood building is owned by the City of Kamloops.