Parents and volunteers fighting to keep their schools open scored a victory Monday night.
The Lester B. Pearson School Board has voted to delay closing Lachine’s Lakeside Academy and Verdun’s Riverview Elementary for at least a year. The groups that mobilized to save the schools now get a second chance to find solutions to keep the schools open even longer.
The vote to save lakeside was a complete turnaround from the vote a month ago to close it -- in December eight commissioners voted to close the school and Monday, eight voted to give the school a second chance.
“We have 11 months now to continue talking with the partners, continue talking with the various levels of government, to convince the community out there that Lakeside is still open for business, that it’s perfectly safe to enroll your grade seven students in September,” said Lakeside governing board chair Karen Bleakley.
Board chair Suanne Stein Day applauded the parents but voted against giving lakeside a reprieve, saying she believes the board has too many schools and not enough students.
“We can’t give the very best education if we have very small school communities,” she said.
The board also voted to give Riverview Elementary in Verdun a second chance.
“We’re hopeful. Now is the chance for the Lester B. Pearson School Board to change their ways, to stop closing schools. It’s not a viable solution, they just keep closing schools. We need to find a solution that will keep our English schools open,” said Riverview parent Patricia Mercier.
Parents of students at the schools now have until December to find solutions that will keep the schools viable, because with dwindling numbers, the school board has to find a sustainable way to serve the community without running a deficit.
