Lakeside Academy closure: Commissioner offers hope of reprieve

There is new hope for students and parents trying to keep Lachine's Lakeside Academy open.

At least one commissioner has said he believes there should be a moratorium on the closure, and Eric Bender said he will make that case at next Monday's school board meeting.

In December, the Lester B. Pearson School Board voted to close the high school, as well as to merge eight elementary schools.

• Lakeside Academy closing, 8 Lester B. Pearson elementary schools merging

The decision left parents of Lakeside Academy students shocked and outraged. Many say it is a mistake to close the only English high school between Lasalle and Pointe Claire, and doing so will create travel headaches for students forced to switch schools.

Positive community initiatives

Bender, the commissioner for Beaconsfield, Pointe-Claire, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue and Baie-D'Urfé south, said he voted last December in favour of closing the school.

"It was based primarily on enrolment data for Lakeside Academy, and at the time it was quite persuasive," Bender said. "There just weren't enough students projected for enrolment in the future."

However, Bender said his opinion has changed over the past few weeks.

"We've received lots of very positive initiatives from the community. By the community, I mean not only the parents [of students] who attend Lakeside Academy but also from MPs, from MNAs and from the local municipalities of Dorval and Lachine," he said.

"They're looking for new initiatives to make the school more viable."   

First Nations partnership

One of those initiatives involves a partnership with the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, on Montreal's South Shore. 

Dozens of children from Kahnawake already attend Lakeside. On Tuesday, members of a group called Save Lakeside, comprised of parents and at least one municipal politician, met members of the community as well as Ghislain Picard, the regional chief for Quebec and Labrador for the Assembly of First Nations.

"The meeting was very positive," said Picard.

The Save Lakeside group is proposing incorporating more First Nations-oriented education in the curriculum, as well as more collaboration with local French-language schools that are part of the Marguerite-Bourgeoys school board.

Picard said those ideas are in keeping with key recommendations of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which called for transforming the way Canada's aboriginal history is taught in all schools.

"We've always had criticism about the curriculum in the schools and how little space we occupy as indigenous peoples  – in the history, for instance," Picard said. "Maybe this would be an opportunity to change that. As long as the school commission and the Quebec government are open, of course."

Monday's meeting key

Save Lakeside's proposals will be presented to the Lester B. Pearson school commissioners at the board's meeting on Monday, Jan. 25.

Bender said if a majority of commissioners vote to reconsider the closure of the school in September, he will propose delaying a decision on whether to close the school until December 2016.

"What I will be bringing forward will be an amendment to put off a final decision until later on this year," Bender said, "to give the communities involved who have come forward with initiatives to us  enough time to work something out that's acceptable to all parties concerned."