The new school tops the council’s list of capital projects

The Algoma County School Board is moving forward with construction of a new JK-12 school in Blind River.

“We had a good summer. I know they’re trying to close certain parts of the building before winter comes so they can keep moving inside,” said Joe Santa Maria, ADSB’s associate director of corporate services and operations, referring to the new Three Rivers JK. -12 School in Blind River.

Some of the foundation walls for the new school are complete and others are underway, Santa Maria told reporters after the board’s regular monthly meeting on Tuesday.

ADSB aims to complete Three Rivers by 2026.

“That would be the goal. We want to make sure we stay in touch with the contractor and work with them throughout the project. At the moment, we are on the right track,” said Santa Maria.

The $50.5 million school, located at 158 ​​Youngfox Road in Blind River, will be shared by ADSB and Conseil scolaire du Grand Nord.

It will include 381 JK-12 spaces, 64 nursery rooms and 72 French-language early spaces for families in the region.

Other capital project work underway in the summer of 2024, including major renovations to existing ADSB schools in Sault County and Algoma County, include:

• The White Pines University Store has been updated
• West entrance to Cora College along with other internal and external upgrades
• Tarentorus Public School Kindergarten and two new classrooms
• Interior and exterior renovation of Isabel Fletcher Public School
• Interior renovation of River View Public School, including updated main entrance and front office
• Chapleau Outdoor School for JK-12

Santa Maria reported that work on a kindergarten and two new classrooms at Tarentorus Public School is complete.

It will take two more summer construction seasons to complete the upgrade to the White Pines Collegiate store, and ADSB hopes to complete it in 2026.

This project has completed two phases, including robotics and computing, and most recently, a new auto shop.

“Corey will take a while to finish, but it’s almost done,” Santa Maria said.

Capital work completed in the summer of 2024 cost approximately $30 million.

“Some of them were declared. Much of this was for the Blind River project. Every year, we receive about 15 million dollars for the implementation of such projects for the modernization of our facilities,” said Santa Maria.

According to him, 32 out of 41 ADSB schools have been renovated in the last few years.

The council’s operating budget committee plans to meet in November to discuss proposed 2025 capital projects.