Lakeside Academy closing, 8 Lester B. Pearson elementary schools merging

The Lester B. Pearson School Board has voted to close two schoolsand merge eightothers into four at the end of the school year in response to an expected budgetary shortfall.

The school board,one of Quebec's largest, overseesEnglish schools from Verdun to the West Island and further west off-island.

As part of the changes approved onMonday night, Lakeside Academy high school in Lachine will be shut down on June 30, 2016.

On that same date, theInternational Language Centre-Marcus Tabachnick Pavilion will also shut its doors.

Elementary school mergers

Commissioners also voted on merging elementary schoolsand approved all four resolutions on the table.

• Thorndale Elementary will merge into Greendale's building.
• Orchard Elementary will merge into St. Lawrence Elementary Junior and Senior
• Riverview Elementary will merge into Verdun Elementary
• Sherwood Forest and St. Paul will merge to create a junior and senior grade school. The junior school (Kindergarten to Grade 2) will be in St-Paul building and the senior school (Grade 3 to 6) will be in Sherwood Forest.

Some schools will open up empty classrooms to house programs from other schools.

• The West Island Career Centre will expand into classrooms at Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School
• Pearson Electrotechnology Centre Satellite Campus will expand into classrooms at Beurling Academy

Changes unavoidable, Stein Day says

Suanne SteinDay, chair of the Lester B. Pearson School Board, said the provincial government has left them little choice but to go ahead with the mergers and closures.

"If we don't close our low-occupancy schools they'll close them for us," she said.

Stein Day said doesn't expect anyone to lose their jobs given that some administrative personnel will be retiring.

Those positions will not be refilled.

Thechanges at theLester B. Pearson School Board come after it launcheda consultation process last March to address a budget shortfall caused in part by rising costs and declining enrolment.

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