2-year freeze on closing schools in Edmonton

No public schools will be closing in Edmonton over the next two years.

Public School Board Trustees agreed Tuesday to place a moratorium on school closures.

The decision comes after the board closed five schools last spring, angering parents, students and community groups.

Parents again pleaded with the board to stop closing schools in the city core.

"Explanations such as we need to fill a big empty school in another neighbourhood or we need your teachers at a new school in the suburbs are not good reasons to jeopardize the quality of my son’s education," parent Kevin Minakar told trustees at the board meeting.

Minakar’s son attends Riverdale School.

The two-year break will give trustees time to answer lingering questions, said board Dave Colburn.

"How much do we save when we close a school? How many schools would have to close to eliminate our unused student space?"

However, two trustees, Catherine Ripley and Ken Shipka, disagreed.

"Do I value maximizing our limited resources to invest in the classroom to help students or do we continue the path we are on and place ever increasing funds into aging and largely vacant school buildings," said Shipka.

Trustees hope the moratorium will give the board time to work with the city and the province on redeveloping central neighborhoods.

"I don't believe that closing our inner city schools and building on the extremities of our city is a sustainable solution," said trustee Heather MacKenzie.

The board must now look at how the moratorium will affect the 70 schools currently under review for closure.