Vaudreuil family launches petition to stop school transfer

VAUDREUIL-DORION – Close to 100 families in Vaudreuil, living in “Area 57” have been re-zoned out of Pierre Elliot Trudeau Elementary School and are set to transfer to Mount Pleasant in neighbouring Hudson next September.

It’s a move that many families are ready to fight considering the extra commute.

“It’s going to be bad because to go to Hudson it’s another 20 minutes and that’s with no traffic and we have to come back this way to go to work,” said Rina Cuntrera, who is so upset she still can’t bring herself to tell her youngest son.

But her 10-year-old daughter is well aware of the re-zoning and devastated that she won’t be able to finish her last year at Pierre Elliott Trudeau Elementary School with most of her friends.

“It’s really unfair because I’ve been there since kindergarten and to not go on my last year is not fair at all,” said fifth grader Talia Birch.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's really unfair because I've been there since kindergarten and to not go on my last year is not fair at all," said fifth grader Talia Birch.

The toughest challenge for many families is figuring out the logistics, since the school they’ll be transferred to is about 20 kilometres away, in Hudson.

WATCH BELOW: Talia Birch opens up in an extended interview

0:56 RAW: 5th grader opens up about school relocation

“I don’t think that the committee realized or didn’t take the time to see, ‘is that zoning map still effective today? Does it still work?’ It doesn’t,” said Lorina Walker, who created a petition to fight the school board’s plans.

“We have 478 signatures already,” said Walker, who already has a Plan B.

“Our options are the French school board.”

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The Lester B. Pearson School Board said it’s willing to reconsider and insists is open to new ideas.

Parents will meet with school commissioners on Wednesday evening and many are hoping to come up with new re-zoning plans.

“Even my principal is trying to not make it happen,” said Birch.

“But he doesn’t have a choice. He has to agree with his boss and say ‘sorry, but yep.'”