Trustees support Edmonton school closures

Edmonton Public School trustees voted Tuesday night to begin the process of closing three schools before the fall, despite emotional pleas from parents.

Board chair Bev Esslinger said there will be public consultations before a final decision is made in March.

If approved, Newton, Mill Creek and High Park schools would be closed, as well as the regular program at Mount Pleasant. The Cogito program, which the school division says focuses on "the mastery of basic academic skills," will continue at Mount Pleasant.

"What I would encourage parents to do now, in those affected communities, is to attend all those public meetings, or to write or to call their trustees and let them know what their thoughts are, because this is very important work of trustees, and we'd like to gather that data prior to making that decision," said Esslinger.

About 150 people attended the board meeting.Twenty-one made presentations, many saying the process was misleading and too short for any meaningful public input.

Karen Johnson, a member of the High Park Community League and mother of a Grade1 student at High Park School,choked up as she pleaded for the trustees to keepher school open.

"Our kids love High Park School. They enjoy being part of a close-knit and caring environment and living close personally to the school and its many facilities," she said.

"We love our school, we are proud of our school and we need our school for our community to grow."

Many of the people who attendedTuesday night's meeting said they weren't given enough time to prepare or to come up with solutions to save their schools.

Last October, the public school board began a review of the future of 10 schools, based on criteria such as enrolment levels, neighbourhood demographics, use of space and how many other schools are nearby.

Coronation, Grovenor, High Park, Lendrum, Montrose, Mount Royal, Newton, Mount Pleasant and Mill Creek/Ritchie, which share a principal but have two campuses, were under review.