Mayor Al McDonald is disappointed Widdifield Secondary School is still slated for closure.

At a robotics event at the Near North Board office, he was asked about the Board’s decision last September to shutter his alma mater.

With the other parties saying there’s going to be a moratorium on school closures, McDonald says he doesn’t know why the board won’t wait until after the election.

“I get that there’s always funding challenges, we have funding challenges at the City of North Bay, but we fight for what’s important for us, and I just want to encourage the trustees to fight for us, to be able to keep the schools open,” he says.

School Board Chair David Thompson tells BayToday the board has financial pressures and they have to deal with the reality that there’s an antiquated funding formula involved.

“It’s not a municipal issue, it’s a school board issue and we have a funding formula that hasn’t been fixed in 15 years and the only way we can address funding is schools closures and I find it interesting for the mayor’s comments,” he says.

Under the Board’s plan West Ferris and Chippewa will remain the two secondary school sites in North Bay.

(file photo)