Lakeside Academy parents scrambling to find ways to avoid Lachine school's closure

When DorvalresidentJennifer Park found out school board commissioners voted 8-5 to shut down her children'shigh school, Lakeside Academy,she was livid.

"Sometimes when you look at a school as a business, you don't look at the heart of the school," she said.

The Lester B. Pearson School Board announced in December it would shutter Lakesideat the end of the school year. The school is one of several which the board is either closing or merging with other schools as it seeks to address an expected budget shortfall.

• Lakeside Academy students, parents 'stunned' by closure

Park knows a thing or two about school closures. If the closure of Lakeside goes ahead, thiswould be the third time she would have to switch one of her children to anotherschool.

But instead of staying angry, Park got busy.

Local politicians on board

She founded the Save Lakeside group that's attracted parents, citizens and local politiciansincluding Lachine borough councillor MajaVodanovic.

There's a possibility school boardcommissioners will reconsider their decision to close the school if they're presented with new information, so Save Lakeside is trying to build a case to persuadethem the schoolis too valuable an institution to board up.

Park said the group will have to be creativefor example, taking advantage of the high school's location next to the airport.

"We said maybe we should explore a partnership with the airport and bring in an aviation coursean engineering course," Park said.

• INTERACTIVE: What declining enrolment atLBPSBlooks like

Boosting First Nations' curriculum

Park and Vodanovichave been fine-tuning a proposal they hope will staunch the population decline at Lakeside.

That involves strengthening the school's ties with the Kahnawake Mohawk territory across the St. Lawrence River.

More than three dozen Mohawk students from Kahnawakecurrently are alreadyattending Lakeside Academy.

Save Lakeside 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-Bourgeoysschool board.

"Let's say nature is our big issue in the 21st century, and we've gone away from it," Vodanovic said. "Can we make something togethera program that is based on nature and that brings us all together?"

"It could bring the communities together: the French community, the English community and the Mohawk community."

Vodanovic saidthe president of theMarguerite-Bourgeoysboard is considering the proposal, and Save Lakeside has a meeting on Tuesday in Kahnawake with Mohawk representatives to discuss the initiative.The Quebec regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Ghislain Picard, is also expected to be at that meeting.

Only English high school in Dorvalor Lachine

The Lester B. Pearson board's chairwoman,SuanneStein Day, said the commissioners decided to shut Lakeside Academy because it's operating at about 37 per cent capacity, and enrolment is trending downwards.

But closing Lakeside would mean a large swath of Montreal's West Islandwould have noEnglish-language high school at all.

If Lakeside closes, then students in the borough ofLachineand the CityofDorvalwho areentitled toan English education would have to travel toPointeClaire or to the Montreal borough ofLasalle to go to school.

That couldmean more than an hour spent on the bus each way.

Park said that spells trouble forsome of the school's more vulnerable students.

"There are parents that are in subsidized housing inLachine(whose children)go to Lakeside,and those parents I worry about," she said. "This is going to cause such a strain on their families, and I don't think that was taken into consideration at all."

Petition circulating

Park and her group have launched a petition askingthe provincial government supportthe pilot project.

The mayors of Dorval and Lachine are also on board. Bothare expected to adopt resolutions at their respectivecouncil meetings this evening, calling on the Ministry of Education to allow the pilot project to go ahead.

The project will be presented to Lester B. Pearson schoolcommissioners on Jan. 25.

Vodanovicsaid saving the schoolmight seem like a long shot, but she said it's clear commissioners simply didn't know enough about Lakeside Academy when they voted to close it.

She pointsout the school has anInternational Baccalaureate program, which means students spend a lot of time volunteering as part of the community service component of that program. For example, there's the Teapot initiative:students spend time with Lachine seniors,bringing them shopping or delivering meals.

Park, too, isis confident Save Lakeside's argumentswill be persuasive.

"Lakeside is staying open," she said."If people have an open mind, and people believe that there's something that can be done to change the way things are handled within the school board and the government, then it will happen."

"We will keep our school."