Lester B. Pearson School Board reveals plans to merge schools and close others

POINTE-CLAIRE, Que.- The Lester B. Pearson School Board will merge four elementary schools and close two others, chairperson Suanne Stein Day said in a press briefing Monday.

“We decided we needed to do something rather than have something done to us,” she explained.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We decided we needed to do something rather than have something done to us," she explained.

For nine months, the school board has mulled over changes in the wake of falling enrollment and impending budget cuts.

Three of the mergers are resulting in a school closing: Greendale, Thorndale, Riverview, Orchard and Verdun elementary schools.

One merger will preserve both institutions; Sherwood Forest and St. Paul will become a junior and senior elementary.

READ MORE: Some Lester B. Pearson schools could be on the chopping block

Lakeside Academy is closing, as is the International Language Centre in Pointe-Claire, where the board is selling the building.

In the board’s special meeting Monday, Stein Day said the decision to merge and close schools was a difficult one.

“All this was done under threat by the ministry to close schools without 50 per cent occupancy,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "All this was done under threat by the ministry to close schools without 50 per cent occupancy," she said.

The board’s enrolment drops by about 500 pupils a year.