THUNDER BAY -- St. Martin School is getting a $3.6-million facelift.
The improvements, expected to begin as early as this summer, will see the rapidly growing Mary Street school’s gymnasium doubled in size and four full-day kindergarten classrooms added.
Construction is expected to be complete by 2014.
Tom Mustapic, the associate director and superintendent of business and corporate services at Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, said the school was originally planned for 450 students and its population has risen to nearly 700.
He added they freed up space by moving the board offices out of the facility, but there were still shortfalls.
“The gymnasium has been a problem for several years,” he said.
“We’ll be able to almost double the size of the gymnasium now to almost 6,000 square feet. So effectively now it will be a large double gymnasium which will more than meet the needs of the school.”
The additional classrooms were made necessary when full-day kindergarten was implemented by the Ontario government.
“There’s a bit of renovation money as well, so we’ll be able to, at the end of this process, have seven kindergarten classes with full facilities, including washrooms and all the needs of a kindergarten class.”
MPP Bill Mauro (Lib., Thunder Bay-Atikokan) said the money is part of his government’s ongoing commitment to education in Ontario.
“It’s going to help them accommodate their growth, and also it’s going to be a significant job creator, about nine months to one full year of construction work in the city,” Mauro said.
“It’s a very positive announcement for a lot of reasons.”
