City councillor urges school board to hold off on Rideau High School closure

The city councillor for Rideau-Rockcliffe is urging the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board to hold off on making a decision about whether to close Rideau High School.

School board staff have recommended closing the school on St. Laurent Boulevard and sending its 400 students to Gloucester High School.

Right now both schools are at 40 per cent capacity.

• Concerned parents plead to keep Rideau High School open

At a school board meeting Tuesday night, Coun. Tobi Nussbaum said he doesn't believe board staff have done a full review of the future needs of the area.

First, he said staff haven't looked at the five elementary feeder schools in the area and whether cost savings could be found there, such as moving Grade 7 and 8 students to Rideau High School.

And second, Nussbaum said they haven't considered the future needs of the catchment area, especially with two new LRT stations set to open nearby.

'Creative options' to keep school open

"I really understand that they're under a budget crunch. And I'm not here to say they should close a different school," Nussbaum told CBC News.

"Really what I'm saying is, given how important the school is, are there creative options that can be looked at to see if those budget savings can be realized but in a different way?"

The board is in the midst of a comprehensive review to address shifting student enrolment and 11,500 "empty pupil places."

Almost 1,000 of those spaces would be saved by sending the 400 students enrolled at Rideau High School to Gloucester, which currently has 665 students.

Residents worry about community impact

There are also concerns that closing the school would negatively impact the community.

Rideau High School is a "hub" for immigrants, indigenous groups who use the school's smudge room and young children who attend pre-school there, according to former Overbrook Community Association president Sheila Perry.

"When you've got challenged neighbourhoods, often you go back to that, 'Where's the hub? Where is the attraction? Where are the safety nets for these students?'" said Perry.

Trustees at odds

School board trustee Donna Blackburn said those programs could be moved.

She also said school board staff have conducted proper reviews of Rideau's catchment area, and she thinks it's in the students best interest to close Rideau and move them to Gloucester High School.

"This is about improving student learning for the students at Rideau High School … They will be given the opportunity to have more fulsome choice selection. They will be given far more extra curricular activities, things that will keep them engaged in school and help them move forward," said Blackburn. 

But the school board trustee for the Rideau-Rockcliffe area, Chris Ellis, disagrees with Blackburn and said a further review of Rideau High School should be done. 

A final decision is expected in March.