Montreal parents worry over possible school closures in West Island

Some parents are worried about the future of Quebec's anglophone schools, after Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) announced it may be shutting down some of its high schools in the West Island, Verdun and Lachine.

The board is holding consultations to determine which schools will be affected.

Noel Burke, chairperson of LBPSB, said the board has decided to look into major school changes, in order to prevent itsless populated schools from being forcefully taken away.

Some of the options the board is currently looking at include:

• Moving students from Beurling Academy in Verdun to LaSalle Community Comprehensive High School.

• Moving students from St. Thomas High School in Pointe-Claire to Lindsay Place High School.

• A possible cohabitation project for Lakeside Academy and the Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Board.

"The idea is to reorganize the network of high schools so they're evenly distributed around the territory of the board and the buildings are sufficiently occupied so that there's not a risk of having them changed over by the minister," said Burke.

Last January, the board's Riverdale High School was transferred to the French Marguerite-Bourgeoys school board by Education Minister Jean-Franois Roberge, forcing students from the high school to transfer to Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School instead.

Burke said the idea behind these consultations is to prevent anything similar from happening again.

But some parents are afraid the board's actions will have the opposite effect.

"[The LBPSB] needs to realize that they're our last line of defence and we count on them to protect and fight for the education of our children," said Kathleen Kelley, whose daughter is in Grade 8 at St. Thomas High School.

Kelley graduated from the school herself and doesn't want to see it go. She told CBC Montreal's Daybreak that about 1,300 students are enrolled at St. Thomas and she doesn't understand why a school at over 90 per cent capacity should be forced to merge.

"I feel like every time we merge a school ...eventually we're going to continue to lose schools to the point where we're not going to have an option to put our children in an anglophone school board," said Kelley.

Concerns about overcrowding

Kelley is also concerned that merging schools could eventually lead to overcrowding for LBPSB students.

Instead, she would like to see the school board offer programs, such as Sport-tudes, in more of their schools to encourage higher enrolment numbers.

Burke said having major school changes is no longer optional. He invites parents to propose their own alternative plans during the consultations.

"The urgency at this point is to reorganize the network in a way our board and our community would like it to be reorganized, rather than having the minister of education come in and move schools arbitrarily as has been the case with the EMSB," said Burke.

The schools the board chooses to close will then be transferred over to the Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Board.

"We have always recognized their need and our excess space so we're happy to do that, but in a very organized way in which the community participates in those decisions," Burke added.