Richmond School Board to decide whether to stop school closure process

Parents in Richmond, B.C. waiting to hear the fate of their children's schools may get an answer on Tuesday night. 

The Richmond School Board will be voting on whether to stop the school-closing process that has been ongoing in their district for several months.

Currently, three elementary schools are at risk of closing — Alfred B. Dixon, Daniel Woodward, and McKay — but Kim Nowitsky with Richmond Schools Stand United hopes trustees will vote on stopping the process at Tuesday's meeting.

"I was shocked actually. I didn't believe it at first," she said.  

"The pressure from the parents and the community has been immense over the last couple of months."

The school board originally made the decision to consider closing schools earlier this year, in order to have more schools above a 95 per cent capacity rate that would make them eligible to receive funding for upgrades. 

However, after the government said the 95 per cent figure was not a firm rule, school trustees said they would reconsider going ahead with closures. Last week, the Vancouver School Board decided to suspend a similar school-closing process that was underway for 12 facilities. 

• Richmond students, parents protest proposed closure of 3 elementary schools
• B.C. government to eliminate 95% capacity guideline for school upgrades
• Vancouver School Board puts school closures on hold

Nowitsky is hopeful that if they do vote to stop the process, it isn't a temporary reprieve.

"In an election year, we're just a little bit cautious whether we should be celebrating, because the closures could come later down the road after the election."

With files from Kamil Karamali