Public board weighs closing 2 high schools, not 1

Ottawa's public school board has once again delayed making a decision on school closures, to consider whether it should close Laurentian High School, as well as J.S. Woodsworth Secondary School.

The two west-end high schools are only about half full, and the public board can't afford to keep them both open.

At the board's previous meeting, trustees wrestled with a motion to close Laurentian, but in the end moved to close Woodsworth instead.

That was the motion on the table Wednesday night, until trustee Joan Spice moved to close both schools. "I recognize that this is a very big change from what we were talking about before," she said.

Spice says, given the history of transfers out of Laurentian, and the lack of a plan to rejuvenate the school, it would be very difficult to create viable programs there.

Closing both high schools, she said, would clear the way to plan a new high school for south Nepean.

Trustees then decided they need a week to talk to their constituents about the idea.

Earlier in the night, trustee Norm MacDonald pleaded with the board to get on with it. "How many more nights will we drag this process out between now and Christmas, and drag people out to watch us dither about making a decision?"

But trustee Alex Getty summed up the board's feelings, saying "We all want to make this decision, and some are more anxious to make it than others. I'm more anxious to make the right one, as opposed to the quick one."

The board will meet next Thursday at 7 p.m. to vote on Spice's motion to close both schools. If that motion fails, they will return to the motion to close Woodsworth.