School board votes to reorganize Grand Falls-Windsor system

Newfoundland and Labrador's English School Board voted to reorganize the school system in Grand Falls-Windsor, closing one elementary grade school.

Millcrest Academy will be closed, and the board voted to renovate two other schools — Sprucewood Academy and Woodland Primary School.

Renovations at Sprucewood mean that location will become a Grade 4-6 school.

The board's former regional office in the community will be opened as a primary school, serving K-3 students.

Milton Peach, chair of the school board, said parents generally seemed to approve of the move during the board's consultations.

"The parents seemed to me, and to us from the consultations we had, very, very much in favour of integrating them all together," said Peach.

"It would be better programming and all the students are friends [with] each other, and I guess in our board opinion — and in my own opinion — two K-3 schools are ideal to have in a community."

Reorganization in Grand Falls-Windsor is expected to start in the 2016-17 school year, pending approval from the provincial government.