A historic school in Maryhill will be closed after a near-unanimous vote Monday night from Waterloo Catholic District School Board trustees.
St. Boniface Catholic Elementary School, which was built in the tail end of the 19th century, will be closed and replaced by a new school in nearby Breslau.
Maryhill residents, who had pushed hard to either leave St. Boniface open or build a new school in their village, were in tears as the outcome of the vote became clear.
“I think the point was missed by our trustees,” said Maryhill resident Julie Martin.
“Our disappointment is that we were never given the chance to have building a new school on that property (as) an option.”
The only trustee to vote against the move was Janek Jagiellowicz, who said the residents’ efforts were key in his decision.
“The Catholic community out in Maryhill, I thought, was just too strong to close it,”
More St. Boniface students come from Breslau than from Maryhill.
Trustee Frank Johnson said building a new, bigger school in a bigger centre like Breslau could be an opportunity to bring more people into the Catholic faith.
“It’s our calling as Catholics and certainly as Catholic educators to evangelize, and the way to do that is to go out where there is no church and create church,” he said.
The new school in Breslau is expected to hold 250 students. The province has approved $5.5 million in construction costs.
The next step for the school board is to secure property in Breslau.
