UPDATED — Nov. 16, 2:12 p.m.
Carol Woodliffe said she's disappointed that even after coming up with “viable options” to keep Long Lake Public School open, trustees with the Rainbow District School Board voted Nov. 15 to close the school by Sept. 2012 at the earliest.
Woodliffe, whose two sons attend Grades 3 and 4 at the school, said the school community made proposals such as turning the school into an outdoor education centre.
She was a member of the accommodation review committee (ARC), made up of parents, educators and community members, which examined the future of several schools in the South End of Sudbury over the past year and presented recommendations to the school board earlier this fall.
“With this process, parents were challenged to come up with utilization and value to the student,” Woodliffe said. “Long Lake Public School did that, and it just seemed like no matter what we came back with, it still wasn't good enough. It still look like we were convincing the board administration. The board administration was coming out strongly recommending closures.”
The school board's administrative council, made up of the director of education and superintendents, also presented recommendations to the trustees earlier this fall.
A large group of Long Lake students wearing blue t-shirts — their school's colour — sat with their parents to hear the trustees' decision.
Trustees with the Rainbow District School Board voted Nov. 15 to close both Long Lake Public School and Wanup Public School. File photo.
Trustees also voted to close Wanup Public School by Sept. 2012 at the earliest. The majority of the students from both Long Lake and Wanup will be transferred to Algonquin Road Public School. The school board also voted to expand Algonquin to accommodate the new students.
Some students from Wanup, depending on where they live, may also qualify to attend Northeastern Elementary School when their school closes.
The trustees also voted to downsize Monetville Public School and build a new "green" junior kindergarten to Grade 8 school on the MacLeod Public School site.
There will be no changes to Alexander Public School, R.L. Beattie Public School, Lockerby Composite School or Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School.
Garnet Graham, whose two sons both attend Grade 5 at Wanup, said he's also disappointed with the decision, “but certainly not surprised.”
“The board clearly had an agenda,” he said. “The ARC process and public input process are...clearly a horse and pony show, in that (the school board) had their agenda, and just followed it. The administrative council was clearly directing the trustees what to do.”
He said a coalition of Wanup parents are considering appealing the trustees' decision with the Ministry of Education.
“There's a certain set of requirements that you have to have to start the appeal process,” Graham said. “One is 30 per cent of the parents' signatures in some sort of petition. Then you have to show how the ARC process is flawed.”
