Lakeside Academy, Riverview to stay open

Lester B. Pearson School Board commissioners voted Monday night not to close Lakeside Academy High School in Lachine.

The vote reverses an earlier council decision to close the school by June 30, 2016, due to declining enrolment.

School board chair Suanne Stein Day applauded community efforts to keep Lakeside Academy open and the "sustainable solutions" that movement put forward. 

"We worked so hard the last seven months and it's the best news I could have ever gotten," said Jennifer Park, a parent of two Lakeside students who spearheaded the Save Lakeside campaign.

"Our hard work paid off and it's more than anything I could have ever imagined."

School board commissioners also voted Monday to reverse its earlier decision to close Verdun's Riverview Elementary School.

• Lakeside Academy closing, 8 Lester B. Pearson elementary schools merging
• ​​Lakeside Academy, Riverview parents, students have high hopes for schools' survival

The December 2015 decision to close Lakeside Academy sparked a determined campaign by parents and citizens opposed to the closure and won the school a one-year reprieve in late January 2016.

School board commissioners were originally scheduled to revisit the proposed closure of Lakeside Academy in December 2016, but Save Lakeside campaign organizers requested to have the vote held sooner.

Park, who has two children in grade eight at the school, said an earlier vote would allow the campaign to move ahead with plans such as sharing the school's facilities with community organizations — or put an end to them.

"Because of the uncertainty, you can't very well move forward with those types of talks with those organizations without knowing," she said.

She thanked for school board for its willingness to collaborate with parents in their efforts to save the school. 

"Enrolment is dwindling in the English community and it's in the best interests of everyone to work together," she said. 

"It's about sitting and communicating... it was really refreshing to have that partnership with [the school board]."