Parents of students at two north side high schools once again pleaded their case to the Lakehead Public School Board trustees in the second of two special board meetings held this week.
The future of Superior Collegiate and Vocational Institute and Hammarskjold High School is in the hands of the school board trustees. Board administration has recommended that Superior be closed in 2017, leaving Hammarskjold as the sole high school on the city’s north side.
Four more deputations were presented to the trustees at a meeting on Wednesday. Like the meeting on Tuesday, there were several deputations in defence of Superior, but Ruth Bushby, a parent and member of the Hammarskjold Parent Committee, told the trustees that keeping Hammarskjold is the best option.
“Location, location, location,” Bushby said. “Any real estate agent will tell you that it doesn’t matter about the building, it’s about the property that’s important.”
Bushby said Hammarskjold’s seven acres provides opportunities for expansion and room for outdoor education, while Superior’s 2.7 acres does not.
“Option two keeps both of their most valuable properties open,” Bushby said. “Hammarskjold as a high school for the north side students and Superior as an elementary school.”
Bushby disagrees that Superior would not be an appropriate elementary school, saying that a modern north side elementary school will be a draw to young families coming to the city.
“I feel that Superior would make an excellent elementary school,” she said. “I hope they look at the big picture. It’s a win-win situation for all north side students and it will also mirror what is happening on the south side of the city.”
Cheryl Silen, mother of four with one grade 11 student at Superior, made a deputation in favour of keeping what she calls the newer, more modern secondary facility.
“Superior is bright, modern and easy to maintain,” Silen said during her deputation. “There is lots of room and the building is full of great technology. That technology will be very useful for senior students, but not much of it is needed for younger students.”
Silen added that the investment in the $32 million Superior that is less than 10 years old is better made as a secondary school, as opposed to an elementary school.
“I also look at the difference between renovations and additions,” she said. “We keep looking at this as a decision between two high schools, but it’s not, it’s a decision between one old building and another old building, whether we are keeping Vance Chapman or Hammarskjold.”
Lakehead Public School Board chair, Deborah Massaro, said the board will take all the information presented into consideration when making the final decision.
“The messages have been quite consistent through he entire process,” she said. “There are pros and cons to both schools and specifically to the high schools.”
Trustees will be touring both schools later this month before making a final decision during a meeting scheduled for Oct. 4.
