Parents whose children attend Riverview Elementary school in Verdun are hoping they can convince the Lester B. Pearson School Board to keep the school open.

In December the board said the school would close at the end of this year, with pupils being moved to Verdun Elementary.

At a meeting Wednesday night parents --and some children-- lined up one by one to address the board and plead their case.

Grade Three student Madison made a poster full of pictures to get her message across.

"I think they should keep Riverview open," she said.

It's not that simple.

The district just doesn't have enough students attending English elementary schools, so the board decided to close Riverview and send students to the larger Verdun Elementary.

"This is a huge blow not just for the English community but for the students of Riverview," said Amanda Ghandhi, a former student.

It's a blow that is partially self-inflicted as data indicates about 26 percent of children who are eligible to attend English schools are sent to French schools instead.

Darren Kotania, of the LBPSB parents' committee, helped organize Wednesday's meeting as a last ditch effort to get the board to change its mind and ask for more time.

"We're asking to look at it better because once these schools are gone. They're gone," said Darren Kotania.

"You can't after the fact say 'hey we have an idea. Maybe we can try this approach.'"

The chair of the school board, Suanne Stein Day, insists the board has looked at every possibility, and unfortunately cannot cope with restrictive language laws.

"I understand but I really can't take the entire burden of the shrinking and marginalized anglophone community on the school board's shoulders. That has to be on the government's shoulders," said Day.

Former Riverview student and Verdun City Councillor Sterling Downey agrees.

He says the Verdun council doesn't want to see another English school close and families leave the borough for suburban Montreal.

"The school board is saying if they don't do it the Minister of Education is going to do it. Let him do it. You're going to buy another year for these parents and educators to go out and find partners," said Downey.

The next council meeting of the Lester B Pearson School Board is on January 25, when the board expects to confirm the closure of Riverview, and several other schools.