The idea of a portion of Optimist Park becoming the location for a new school to replace the King George, Pleasant Hill and Princess Alexandra Schools is still on the table for the City Centre Project.
Board Chair for Saskatoon Public Schools, Colleen MacPherson, says at their meeting this week a motion was passed to continue looking at Optimist Park and for administration to contact the City of Saskatoon and the Ministry of Education to figure out what the next steps would be if this were to become the preferred location.
Originally there were multiple suggestions, but now it’s down to the Princess Alexandra School site and Optimist Park.
MacPherson says the project vision includes potential partnerships with the City, the Saskatoon Tribal Council and other interested parties to create a school connected to community services for students and families.
A new building is needed, MacPherson explains, because the three schools have small enrollment numbers and bringing them together would mean being able to offer more programming.
Also, the school buildings are old and require in total about $68-million in deferred maintenance work.

The amount of area needed for the school on the Optimist Park isn’t known yet, because it would depend on the design.
MacPherson says test fits for both sites were presented at the board meeting, including both a two and three storey option for Optimist Park.
The new school is projected to open in the fall of 2024.