Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas spoke at Queen's Park Oct. 4 regarding school closures in the Nickel Belt riding.
"Rainbow District School Board has announced that a significant decline in provincial funding has triggered accommodation reviews for many of its schools. What does this mean in the riding?
In Valley East, students from Grades 7 and 8 at one school, will be transferred to a secondary school, while the remaining students from the junior classes to Gr. 6, will be moved into another elementary school."
Gélinas attended a community meeting at at Chelmsford Valley District Composite School on Sept. 15, and spoke to those in attendance on that evening.
"In Chelmsford, the high school will no longer exist as a high school. Its secondary students will be bused either to Val Caron or to Sudbury. It will become a JK to grade 8 dual track school with elementary students from Chelmsford, Dowling, Onaping and Levack, all being bused in to it. Younger students, aged 4 and 5, will travel from Geneva Lake to Chelmsford – spending almost as much time on a bus as learning in the classroom," said Gélinas at Queen's Park, Tuesday.
"In the west end of Nickel Belt, the news is no better. The Board intends to close Lively high school. All of the students from Lively will be on a bus—you guessed it—to schools located Sudbury. The grade 7 and 8 students will be transferred to the already-tight-for-space Walden Public School."
Proposed changes, which would be implemented by 2019 at the latest, include the closure and consolidation of several schools — both elementary and secondary — building new ones and moving Grade 7 and 8 students to high schools.
For the full details of the proposed changes, and to see if your child's school would be affected, click here to read the information released by the Rainbow Board on Aug. 31.
"I have seen this movie before, Speaker, and it always ends the same way. Kids in rural schools in Nickel Belt get bused to big urban schools in Sudbury," said Gelinas.
"The impact of school closure is felt not only on the students who need to travel long distances it is felt on the community as a whole. Schools are meeting and gathering places. A place for parents to meet people, organise cultural or sporting event. In summary a local school helps build strong and healthy kids, families and communities."
