Nursery school to meet with board

Fort Frances Nursery School is ready to sit down with the public school board this week to discuss its possible future in the expan-ded J.W. Walker School.
“I’m getting excited. A lot of people are excited right now because this can really happen,” enthused Sandra Weir, vice-president of the Fort Frances Nursery School.
The nursery school currently is housed at Alexander MacKenzie but when that school closes in 2004, it no longer will have a place to go.
As such, a community group of parents and volunteers has been formed to have a room built onto J.W. Walker for the nursery school.
Weir said some of the 17 group members will make a presentation at the meeting of the J.W. Walker building committee this coming Tuesday night to discuss the planned addition and how to cover costs of the estimated $150,000 project.
This will be their first chance to formally discuss the issue with the Rainy River District School Board.
In the meantime, parents and volunteers are looking at ways to raise money for the proposal.
Weir said they’re currently looking at a number of provincial grants to help cover the capital costs, especially programs that focus on infrastructure and support for northern communities.
“We don’t know if we qualify for [the grants] but we are looking at doing these things as strong possibilities,” she explained.
The group also is looking to approach Safeway to see if employees there would sponsor the nursery school project as their local charity next year.
Fort Frances Nursery School will hold another meeting Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. at Alexander MacKenzie for anyone interested in helping out.
“We will review the results of the Walker building committee presentation and see where things are at,” Weir said.