'It's the people that make it a school': Educators reflect on a new Sudbury, Ont., school

There will be a new elementary school in Sudbury, Ont., starting in the fall.

The Rainbow District School Board will welcome some 350 students at the newly built Lasalle Elementary School. The kindergarten to Grade 6 French immersion school will be attached to Lasalle Intermediate School and Lasalle Secondary School.

It replaces three schools — Carl A. Nesbitt Public School, Ernie Checkeris Public School and Westmount Avenue Public School — that will shut their doors for the last time at the end of June.

"This has been a long time coming," said Jim Wachnuk, who's the principal at Nesbitt and Checkeris public schools, and has been appointed in the position at Lasalle Elementary.

"This process has taken a while, but the excitement is building and now that I'm able to get in there."

Wachnuk said the new school will have what is, in his opinion, the best gym of any elementary school in Sudbury.

Carl A. Nesbitt Public School was built in 1956, and he noted building technology "has come light years" since then.

Emily Caruso Parnell, who was a student at Nesbitt from Grades 1 to 8 and is now the principal at Westmount Avenue Public School, said there's a bit of anxiety, but also a lot of excitement about the new school. 

"I think there's always a certain bittersweetness to these things," Caruso Parnell said.

"You know, obviously people have really good memories of these buildings and had really good experiences here. But a building is just a building, right? It's the people that make it a school."

Kristen Pichette, vice-principal at Nesbitt and Checkeris public schools, said the new school is "spectacular"

"It's bright, big windows," she said. "So I'm really excited to see it all come together. Now that it's in the final stages."

Pichette said while there were advantages to having smaller community schools, there are also some positives with a larger school.

She said the transition from elementary to intermediate and then secondary school will be easier for the students, because they are all connected.

"They're going to a place that is familiar for them." 

She said it will also be easier with families with multiple children, who won't have to travel to different schools if they need to pick them up or drop them off.

Lasalle Elementary School is part of the Rainbow District School Board's ongoing revitalization projects.