Board closes popular public school

The popular McGregor Easson Public School will be closed by September 2010, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board decided Tuesday night.

Parents and teachers at the 45-year-old school have all said it is a model of a community based school.

But there are only 85 students in the school, down from a high of 200. It's located on Dynes Road between Fisher Avenue and Prince of Wales Drive, just south of the Central Experimental Farm.

"Decisions like these are never easy, but are always made with the interests of students in mind, in alignment with our commitment to improve student achievement," said board Chair Cathy Curry in a statement on the board's website.  

Parents say the low student enrolment in fact contributed to the community feeling in the school.

"Just a great feel, a great family feel — everybody knows everybody. I think I could name most of the kids in the school. If I couldn't, my wife certainly could," said Mark Vidallin, who has two children in the school, one in Grade 3, the other in Grade 5.

Shadbam Zakeria also has two children in the school.

"I [am] close here to work in Tim Hortons. So it's better to be here … So it's, like, easy for me," she said.

"This school has been a huge part of the neighbourhood, the immediate neighbourhood," said Catherine Pearson, who has been principal of the school for the last six years.

She said many of her students can safely walk to school.

"And that's one of the things our parents are most concerned about losing ... is that immediate contact and access to the school," Pearson said.

Most students will be redirected to Carleton Heights Public School for junior kindergarten through Grade 6.

A middle French Immersion program will be established at Carleton Heights in September.

Current English-program students, living east of the Rideau River, in the Carleton Heights attendance boundary, and in the Fielding Drive Public School boundary, will be given a one-time option of remaining at Carleton Heights, or of attending either Fielding Drive or General Vanier Public School.