The last chance for parents to speak up about the program and accommodation reviews in Forest Glade and Leamington is Thursday night.
The Greater Essex County District School Board is holding two public meetings. The first, about the review underway in the Windsor neighbourhood of Forest Glade, starts at 6pm at the board's office building on Park St. W. The second is at Leamington District Secondary School on Talbot St. W. That meeting will start at 8:30pm.
The board decided to embark on these reviews last December, and trustees will make their final decision Thursday.
The recommendation for Forest Glade is to submit for approval to the Ministry of Education a business case to build a new school to accommodate students currently attending Parkview and Eastwood Public Schools. If the ministry approves the business case, Parkview and Eastwood will close, and the buildings would be declared surplus to the board.
The board is looking for a $13-million capital investment from the province. The new building would accommodate 535 students and could open in September 2020.
The boundary for Forest Glade Public School will change.
In Leamington, the recommendation is to build two new schools.
Mill St. Public School at the end of June and declare the building surplus to the board's needs. Starting in September, students at Mill St. will be split up between Mt. Carmel-Blytheswood and Queen Elizabeth Public Schools, and the board will submit a business case to the province to either build a new $15-million school or expand Queen Elizabeth at the cost of $2-million.
The review also recommends a new $15-million school for students at both Gore Hill and M.D. Bennie on M.D. Bennie's current site. A dual-track French Immersion program will be introduced at Gore Hill which will eventually relocate to the new school if the province approves that project.
