Wildwood Elementary school students have been sent home for the week while the district makes arrangements to move them elsewhere following the discovery of mould in the rural school Thursday.
According to Superintendent Mark Thiessen, temporary preventative measures were put in place immediately to ensure the safety of 33 students as well as staff when the district became aware of a problem with mould in the crawl space underneath the gymnasium at Wildwood Elementary.
Students even returned to the classroom Monday only to have Thiessen make the decision to keep the students at home until the end of the week to ensure student safety.
In an emergency meeting held in Wildwood Tuesday evening, the Board of Trustees passed a motion that would move the staff and students from Wildwood Elementary for the remainder of this school year.
"The Board understands that this may be a difficult transition for the students and staff of Wildwood and considered options that would keep the Wildwood Elementary School staff and students together for the remainder of this school year As there is available space for two classrooms at Marie Sharpe Elementary, the 33 students and their staff from Wildwood will become a “school within a school” at Marie Sharpe beginning Monday, April 27," stated the a press release.
District and school staff have communicated and met with parents in Wildwood. Meetings have also been held with the staff of both Wildwood and Marie Sharpe schools.
"At this point, this is a temporary solution for the Wildwood school facility. Over the coming weeks, the Board of Education will be considering all options with regards to the long term outcome of the Wildwood school facility and the impacts of those outcomes for the District and staff and students of Wildwood for September 2015."
Wildwood was one of the schools slated for closure in recent years as the board looked to tighten the budget and was the only one saved.
Trustees said at the time they saved the rural school due to its significance to the community and the long bus ride students would have if it closed.