Educators are optimistic about the success of students at East Ridge Community school in Owen Sound.
This year, area students from junior kindergarten to Grade 8, including those in French Immersion, were consolidated on the site of the former Owen Sound Collegiate Vocational Institute (OSCVI).
An official ribbon cutting ceremony was held Friday, October 13th.
Board members, students, local dignitaries and community partners, architects, and a Ministry of Education representative marked the occasion.
Principal Burke Mason says “Students, families and staff are settling in nicely and really taking ownership of their new school community at East Ridge,” adding now, “Our Falcons are free to soar as high as ever as we continue to create an exceptional and exemplary learning culture for the Owen Sound area.”
The school is also home to the new Owen Sound YMCA Early Learning Centre for toddlers and preschoolers, and the YMCA Before and After School program as well as an Ontario Early Years Centre.
There are plans for a public open house at East Ridge sometime later in the school year.
OSCVI was closed in June of 2016 as part of province-wide school accommodation reviews. High school students from OSCVI and West Hill Secondary School were amalgamated into the high school at West Hill to become Owen Sound District Secondary School (OSDSS).
In June (2017) the Ontario Liberal government responded to public pressure and put a moratorium on school closures until the process could be looked at.
Through the ARC process to date, 124 schools have been closed across Ontario.
Those that were on the chopping block before the moratorium remain slated for closure review.
Locally, that includes Beavercrest in Markdale which is scheduled for review in 2018 and Paisley Central school which is set to be reviewed in 2019.