Parents come out in droves to question school closure

A reconsideration motion will be tabled at the next Lester B. Pearson School Board meeting in an effort to save Lakeside Academy in Lachine.

The announcement was made at the school’s most well attended governing board meeting on tuesday night, when over 150 parents and supporters turned out to ask questions about the future of their school.

The lines of parents wanting to know why their children’s school was to close and what would happen to students in the International Baccalaureate and REACH programs, grew longer as the evening went on, fielded by Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) chairperson, Suanne Stein Day, and members of the administration.

The news of the school’s slated closure, part of the LBPSB’s major school change process, hit the community hard on Dec. 14. The only hope to save the school is a reconsideration motion that would have to be tabled by a councillor who voted in favour of the closure, in light of new information.

Impact

Tenth-grader Ashley Spanier-Levasseur was “devastated,” when she heard the news. The first thing that went through her mind was “being separated from my friends.” Many of them have been together since elementary school. If the school closes on June 30, she worries they won’t graduate together.

Even with the possible closure, Spanier-Levasseur’s mother, Shari Spanier, still has faith in Lester B. Pearson academics. She intends to keep her son in the English system, regardless of the possibility of future closures.

“It’s going to happen again, it’s inevitable, but it’s the best education that they’re going to get,” said Spanier.

LBPSB councillor for ward 3, Joshua Arless, graduated from Lakeside in 2007 and saw the school’s success rate increase from 55 to 96 per cent.

“[Closing the school] will be a huge blow to the community. There’s a 20 kilometre gap between LaSalle Community Comprehensive High School and Lindsay Place,” said Arless. He intends to uphold whatever decision is made by council.

“New information has to be proposed, that’s the nitty-gritty part,” said Arless. “It will be interesting to see what the community proposes for new information.”

Arless was at Lakeside after a merger of Bishop Whelan and Lachine High in 2001. “That was rough, having two communities merge into one.” His elementary school was also closed. “I know what the effects of major school change are.”

If the reconsideration motion passes, the board will vote again at their next meeting, Jan. 25.