Northeastern Secondary School will become a huge elementary school in September.
Trustees with the local English public school board voted Monday night in favour of a recommendation that will see Falconbridge and Robert Jack elementary schools closed and the student populations moved to the soon to be vacant Northeastern Secondary School building.
The high school was cited for closure by the board because of declining enrolment.
The decision to close the two elementary schools was met with a loud and angry response by some parents.
Trustee for the Garson area, Dena Morrison, put the relocation motion on the table.
She felt the Northeastern building is a better facility and provides room for growth. Morrison has also gone on record as noting if the high school was sold it would be off the market for board use forever.
The Falconbridge school is under capacity and the Robert Jack building has too many students, she said.
Some parents, however, believe it doesn't make financial sense to move the schools. One estimate indicates it would cost $190,000 above the current combined maintenance budget at Robert Jack and Falconbridge just to keep the high school building open.
That doesn't include the additional costs involved in retrofitting the high school for smaller people.
