The Near North School Board has approved a 2.7 million dollar expansion for Woodland Public School in North Bay.
Phase two of construction at its newest elementary school will boast a four room child care facility, which will include an infant room, a toddler room, and two preschool rooms. The Woodland Early Learning and Child Care Facility is entirely funded by the Ministry of Education, which includes many of the first time equipping costs associated with getting it ready to open next spring.
"We know that we have wait lists in the North Bay area for quality child care and we look forward to responding to parents who are interested in either infant spaces, toddler spaces or preschool spaces," said Amanda Meighan Superintendent of Support Services.
"Currently at Woodland Public School, we have excellent partnerships with YMCA Northeastern Ontario, for before and after school care for school-aged children."
Ten spaces will be available for infants and 15 for toddlers, along with two preschool rooms, each designed to hold 16 spaces. A sleeping area and kitchen are included in the design.
Paul Mitchell of Mitchell Jensen Architects says calls for tender could go out as early as next week. Contractors will be asked to bid on a very short timeline to get the contract awarded before the end of next month. The goal is to begin work on the site by the end of July, or the first week of August. Mitchell says a lot of work needs to be done prior to students returning in September.
"It's about 6,400 square feet. It attaches on to the northeast corner of the property. We were conscious to try to minimize the impact on the playgrounds, so we've reshuffled parking lots and bus drop-offs instead," said Mitchell " We need to get those areas adjusted and usable for September in order to create the space to build the school safely when the kids are back in school."
This expansion will be the final phase of construction at Woodland.
