Northern Ontario community fights to keep local school open

A plan by the Rainbow District School Board to close the small, community school in Webbwood, Ont., about 80 kilometres west of Sudbury, and transfer its students to Espanola isn't sitting well with a number of parents.

The proposal is part of a large review of the schools in northern Ontario's largest public board. It aims to consolidate students in fewer schools in order to decrease operating costs to balance, what the board calls, a decrease in provincial funding.

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Parents from Webbwood travelled to Espanola Thursday to give their input as part of accommodation meetings being held by the board.

"If there's any concerns at all, we talk one-on-one with the teachers, with the principal there, the vice-principal. It's very welcoming," said Tracey Vandergulik, one of the parents.

"With bigger classrooms I just find that, for example, if there's a learning disability or bullying going on I just don't think there's going to be that one-on-one. Things might get lost in the shuffle."

Vandergulik added that the small, 50 student school has a family-like atmosphere.

The board is proposing closing Webbwood Public School and transferring the students to A.B Ellis Public School in Espanola.

Some parents would rather see students sent to school in nearby Massey

If the Webbwood school must close, some parents would rather see students sent to a school in another part of their township.

"It would be to send them to S. Geiger [Public School] in Massey so they're at least still within their municipality, where we pay taxes," said David Wolff, another parent who has two children in school in Webbwood.

"[We'd be] helping keep at least one public school open within our community to help make our community attractive for family members."

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Both Webbwood and Massey are part of the amalgamated township of Sables-Spanish Rivers, which was incorporated in 1998, bringing together several former towns and townships.

Massey and Espanola are both less than 20 kilometres from Webbwood.

"It shouldn't be all about school numbers and population numbers," Wolff continued. "It's about the quality of education and the burden you're going to put on the children by sending them to other communities."

The board's final accommodation meeting is scheduled for Monday at Sudbury Secondary School.

It's slated to make its final decisions on all possible school closures February 7, 2017.