All-girls school in Sydney to close

The Nova Scotia Department of Education will not pay to buy Holy Angels High School in Sydney, the only all-girls public school in Atlantic Canada, from the nuns who own it prompting howls of protest from students.

About 200 students picketed outside the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board office after the board announced Thursday that the school, which has been in operation since1885, will close in June.

The school board has been leasing the building from the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame. But the order is selling the building, and adjacent convent, next year.

Board chairman LorneGreen said the Education Department told them it couldn't afford to buy the building from the nuns.

He said said he made the announcement of the school's closure with "mixed emotions."

"We as a board have now and always maintained that we want to continue the all gender school and its programs," he said.

The board saidit would look for other ways to keep the school open in another form, such as holding classes in another building.

Board officials said the student body show of support may be just what is needed to change the Education Department's mind on buying the school.