Parents at Lively District Secondary School are already mobilizing after the Rainbow District School Board announced the school may close as soon as next September.
The Rainbow board announced sweeping cost-cutting measures Aug. 31 that include closing and merging several schools — both elementary and secondary — building new ones and transferring Grade 7 and 8 students to high schools.
The board is holding accommodation reviews in six of its eight planning areas this fall and winter, with a decision expected to be made in January.
Lively parents are holding a meeting at the community's high school Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. to form a committee that would present public input to the board about its plans for the school.
“I personally don't feel that every option's been looked at,” said Stacy Paajanen, whose son, Victor, is entering Grade 10 at the school.
She said perhaps the board might look at changing school boundaries, sending high school students from nearby Copper Cliff to Lively instead of to Sudbury schools.
Paajanen, who becomes emotional when speaking about the subject, said she's “crushed” by the possibility of the school closing. Her son is the third generation of her family to attend Lively High.
If the school closed, teens from the area would attend Lockery Composite School or Sudbury Secondary School instead.
“I went to Lively High,” said Paajanen, who's on the Lively high school council as well as the organizing committee for its 60th anniversary reunion, which would take place next summer.
“I'm a proud graduate. My brothers went there. My sister-in-law went there. My parents went there. My aunts and uncles went there. When I was a kid, I could not wait to grow up and become a Hawk.”
Losing the high school would be bad for Lively's economy, as parents picking up children at school would be more likely to purchase their groceries and gas in Sudbury, she said.
Expecting students to spend so much time on the bus is also unfair, Paajanen said. Right now, Lively students are able to walk to their after-school jobs.
Paajanen also has two younger children — Lexi, 2, and Jones, 4. Her younger son is entering Walden Public School this fall.
Built just five years ago, Walden Public School would also be impacted by the changes proposed by the board. It's currently a junior kindergarten to Grade 6 school, and Grade 7 and 8 students attend class at Lively high.
If the community's high school closes, the board is looking at placing Grade 7 and 8 students at Walden Public School.
Paajanen said the school's population is growing, and it may grow even more, with two new mines set to open in the Worthington area.
“I don't think we should all of a sudden have to put our kids in portables or in the gym to learn,” she said.
Paajanen isn't the only parent out there upset about the proposed changes. Dozens of people commented on Sudbury.com stories on the issue, and several sent us emails to voice their opinions.
One mother, whose two sons attend Alexander Public School, said she's concerned about what the changes would mean for her kids.
Grade 7 and 8 French Immersion Alexander students would be sent to Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School or Lockerby Composite School, making room for French immersion students from Lansdowne Public School, which would close.
“I know I wouldn't be the only parent that would have serious concerns about this as I don't think 12 and 13 year olds are ready to be in a high school environment,” she said in an email to Sudbury.com.
“Given that our school already has a good enrolment rate I also don't know why it has been targeted for these changes.”
Another man, who asked to remain anonymous, said in an email to Sudbury.com his son attends Lively high.
He said he's considering transferring him to a Catholic school board “even though we are not religious at all, due to now seeing that the RDSB does not value the Lively high school.”
