Lorne Middle School parent takes school closure case to court

ALorne Middle Schoolparent has filed papers in courtin an attempt to halt the announced closure of the Saint John school.

The closure of the school, which has about 50 students, was recommended by the Anglophone South School District in March.

Education Minister Serge Rousselleaccepted that recommendation and announced the school will close at the end of the current school year.

In an affidavit filed in court in Saint John on Friday, Ken Craft, who is also chair ofthe parent school support ,argues parents have not been given sufficient opportunity to make their case to keep the school open.

They are seeking a judicial review of the government's decision, lawyer, Kelly Lamrock, told reporters outside the courthouse.

"If you're going to close it, we have apolicy that guarantees you have to think about more than the bottom line. Somebody has to consider children and education. And you can't just say' trust me, I did,' you have to show you did," said Lamrock.

"And the fact that schools and parentsare showing pages and pages of thoughtful arguments about the impact on their lives and government is playing political games by saying, 'No, we don't have to tell you why. Just trust us, we looked at it,'is wrong at law and it's wrong ethically and it's goingtobe wrong for kids."

Discussion about closing the school began last fall with the district education council carrying out a sustainability study.

"There were no alternate scenarios proposed or costed in which Lorne Middle School remained open," said Craft in his affidavit.

"There were no calculations of new costs under the one closure model submitted.

"I also noted that the calculated cost of keeping Lorne Middle School open contained costs for capital improvements that I was informed by DEC chair Rob Fowler and do believe were not planned to be funded by the Government of New Brunswick not prioritized as immediate by the DEC."

Craft said the next requirement when a school is being considered for closure was to hold a meeting for community feedback. That meeting was scheduled for Jan. 8.

"At the time, I was alarmed that the community, presented with a proposal in which the only option was the loss of our school, had a mere six weeks overChristmas in which to add relevant facts which might save our school," stated Craft. "At no time were we offered access to research resources or government documents withwhich to make our case."

After the DEC recommedationto close the school, Craft submitted a document to the minister "detailing the substantive and procedural flaws and asking to be heard.

"Given that past practice was for the minister of education to review the decision and hear from the community directly, I had an expectation that I would be heard and my points considered and verified or rejected," he said.

"The minister of education gave no response to my request for a hearing and offered no thoughts, questions or arguments on the issues raised in my submission."

The education minister has also confirmed the closure of schools in Brown's Flat and Bath this week.