Regina school to close due to 'structural concerns'

Holy Rosary School will be closing its doors due to structural concerns. (Katy Syrota / CTV News)

Holy Rosary Community School will be closing its doors due to structural concerns.

A letter was sent to the Ministry of Education as part of the school board’s Major and Minor Capital Funding and Projects Submission highlighting the need for a rebuild.

It was voted on at Monday night’s school board meeting.

“The foundation of this building is seriously compromised despite the current remedial structural work. This school has an inevitable end of life date,” read the proposal.

Holy Rosary School began construction in 1914, with additions in 1928 and 1971.

Regina Catholic School Division provided notice to parents regarding the closure on Tuesday.

Ryan Lauf, a parent of two boys at the school, said his children are upset about the news.

“[My eldest] has developed friendships along the way that are continuing to grow and he’s quite sad that the school’s closing and he’s going to lose his friends,” he said.

“As far as being parents, we love the school because of the smaller class sizes it has. We feel that the kids are getting a better education, they get more one-on-one time with the teachers than they would in some of the other schools.”

Twylla West, communications and media co-ordinator for Regina Catholic Schools, said that while staff were hanging signage on part of the building last summer, the structural issues were revealed.

“[An engineering firm] revealed that, very plainly, the original building for Holy Rosary School has reached the end of its useful life,” she said.

“It was a bit of a tough day at the school [Wednesday] I think, a very emotional day because it’s not what everybody wanted to hear.”

The engineering firm provided three years as a timeline for closure. However, the school will officially close by the end of June of 2024.

“We don’t want to risk anybody so we are being very conservative with the timeline to make sure that we’re not compromising anybody’s safety,” West said.

The school division will consult with families at a private meeting to gather feedback and guidance on determining next steps.

“Our main focus right now is just taking care of the students and what they need and what their families need. It’s a really important community to Regina Catholic Schools, staff, the students, and the families, and it has been for over 100 years.”

“After that, we’ll be able to look at more big picture pieces but we want to take care of them first.”

--With files from CTV News Regina's Katy Syrota