Owen Sound’s newest school is getting rave reviews.
Alexandra School opened its doors on Tuesday for about 250 students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8.
It replaces the 100 year old structure next door.
Principal Denise Horvath calls it a bright and cheery building — and she notes staff and students are happy to be there.
The 5.2 million building has nine classrooms, two kindergarten rooms, a library and a large gymnasium.
Construction started last year on the playground immediately to the north of the old school.
The original part of the old Alexandra was built in 1911, with additions constructed in the 1940’s and ’50’s.
Its last years were marred by inefficiencies that actually included the explosion of a boiler a year or so ago.
Horvath points out as much as everyone knew a new building was needed — she doesn’t think anybody really realized just how much they were looking forward to that new building until they walked in and saw it for the first time.
Much scrambling was done to get the school ready for the first day because the teachers weren’t allowed in until last Thursday.
There is still some work to be done in the library and elsewhere on the property, especially as demolition and cleanup work continues at the old school site.
That is expected to be completed within the next week.
Horvath says the students got used to a smaller playground area last year while construction on the new school got underway — and they’ll deal with a smaller play area again while the old school site is fenced off and remediated.
Horvath admits there were discussions around changing the name from Alexandra to something else — she notes Alexandra’s ties to the community was a factor to keep the name the same.
And so this school is to be considered a continuation of Alexandra’s 100 year old relationship with Owen Sound.
