It's the end of the line for two east London Catholic elementary schools that have been dealing with declining enrollment.
London District Catholic School Board (LDCSB) trustees approved recommendations at a meeting earlier this week to close Holy Cross Catholic Elementary and St. Robert Catholic Elementary next June.
The move will eliminate 574 of the board's 2,000 empty student spaces.
"Doing nothing was not an option," said LDCSB chair John Jevnikar in a statement issued Tuesday. "We needed to realign the number of schools with current realities, which meant moving from six to four schools. We also wanted to make decisions that would affect the least number of students."
The board launched a review of six east-end schools earlier this year that found 700 vacant student spaces and $20-million worth of required renovation work. In addition to Holy Cross and St. Robert, the school review also included Holy Family, Blessed Sacrament, St. Bernadette, and St. Pius X.
"We needed to respond to changing demographics in the area," said Jacquie Davison, Superintendent of Business. "This geographic area contains the greatest density of school buildings in the entire school board, yet we have had a 40% decline in enrollment in ten years."
Boundaries will be redrawn and the 422 students from the soon to be shuttered schools will be relocated to the remaining four east-end schools.
The closures are the LDCSB's first in the London-area since 2012.
