The former Sundance Elementary School, closed last year in a cost-saving move, will reopen in September as an annex of École Victor-Brodeur.
The Greater Victoria school board has agreed to a five-year lease for the Bank Street property with the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique, or School District 93, B.C.’s francophone-education authority. The value of the lease is $100,000 a year.
Sundance’s closing was one of a number of cuts made when the Greater Victoria board had to eliminate a $1.5-million shortfall in its 2014-15 budget.
Although enrolment in the arts-focused school was 58 at the time, down by about half since 2003, supporters were passionate about saving it.
Victor-Brodeur’s main building is on Head Street in Esquimalt and is attended by students up to Grade 12. The plan is to start using the Sundance building for up to 100 students, said Roger Hébert, the chairman of School District 93.
“Our anticipation is we want to have all the students that live on the east side of Victoria, around the Oak Bay area, between kindergarten and Grade 3” at the Sundance site, he said.
Right now, Victor-Brodeur has 714 students, up from 401 when it opened in 2007.
“We’ve really grown and we’re busting at the seams,” Hébert said.
Greater Victoria school board chairwoman Edith Loring-Kuhanga said the lease will provide funds to be used in district learning programs.
Sites in the Greater Victoria district were also rented by the francophone-education group during the 21Ú2-year construction period for Victor-Brodeur, with students attending classes at the former Uplands and Richmond elementary schools.
