Wolf Creek School Division administration hopes to have a purchaser for Mirror School by the end of August.
The school division closed the school at the end of June because of dwindling student enrolment.
The tendering process is underway, with the school division accepting bids until 4 p.m. on Aug. 23.
Larry Jacobs, superintendent of the Wolf Creek School Division, said he knows of one group hoping to have a Christian alternative school program show interest in the building, but he said he and other senior administration will not see all of the bids until after the tender closes.
At that point they will determine if there is a worthwhile offer and make their recommendations to the Wolf Creek School Division school board.
The sale can not go through without approval by the Wolf Creek School Division school board and also the minister of education.
Jacobs said normally the bid that will be chosen will be the highest one.
He said the division is hoping to sell the Mirror School building soon because there are costs for maintenance and other expenses the division must pay for until the former school sells.
Money raised through the sale of Mirror School will likely go into the school division’s capital budget, Jacobs said.
Mirror School students will be dispersed to other area schools.
Many of the students in the northend of the former Mirror catchment area will attend Mecca Glen School, a few will attend school in Clive and most of the rest will go to Alix School.
The Wolf Creek School Division voted in October to look at the closure of the school because of dropping student numbers and voted to move forward with the closure in the spring.
Only 44 children were going to the school during the last school year and students had to be grouped together, with kindergarten to Grade 3 students in the classroom with one teacher.
Continuing to run the school also came at a steep cost — $11,000 per student at Mirror compared with $6,300 at other schools.
An exact estimate has not been compiled but closing the school is expected to save between $400,000 and $500,000 a year.
Other positions are being sought for the seven full- and part-time staff at Mirror, including four teachers, a principal, teaching assistants and office staff.
sobrien@www.reddeeradvocate.com