The Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) is hearing final remarks from parents and the community regarding the future of their schools.
Over the course of two days, the board will be hearing from 25 different people and groups.
“The objective is to listen to the presentations and for commissioners to ask those people presenting — governing boards, organizations, community associations and individuals — for commissioners to understand the details of their proposals,” said Noel Burke, chairman of the LBPSB.
The board says it received 68 briefs in total and will be reading them all.
It will then study the observations and proposals in order to make decisions on the schools identified in the Major School Change process.
Four schools, including Beurling Academy, Lakeside Academy, Lindsay Place High School and St. Thomas High School, are currently under review.
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Place Cartier (w/Allancroft Campus), and SACC (Sources Adult & Career Centre) are also on the list.
The Lester B. Pearson School Board launched the process last summer. The goal is to consolidate their school network in order to avoid losing buildings to the overcrowded French boards.
Last June, the Québec government transferred several EMSB schools to the overcrowded Commision scolaire de la Pointe-de-l’île.
Mary Anne Cezar Fyckes, a retired spiritual animator in Verdun, presented her brief argument for keeping Beurling Academy open.
“All the research points to maintaining institutions in an impoverished community, especially in Verdun in the Anglophone community,” Fykes explained.
The board says it will hold a board meeting on Dec. 17 to table their resolutions and present their decisions on the future of each school. It will take place at 7:30 p.m. at John Rennie High School.
Burke said it’s likely the changes will be put in place in September 2020, but for some schools, it might be delayed a year or two.
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