THUNDER BAY -- Red Rock Public School's class of 2017 could be its last.
The number of students enrolled is low and the Superior-Greenstone School Board is looking at a closure, which is causing serious concern in the community of 900 people.
The town of Red Rock is about to be dealt another blow, years after losing its Kraft Paper mill.
The community is now facing the possibility of losing its only public elementary school.
The Red Rock Public school currently has a roster of 10 students, a far cry from its Catholic board neighbour Saint Hilary School, which has nearly eight times that number.
Red Rock mayor Gary Nelson said he will advocate keeping the school running.
“Once a school goes…it’s gone, you won’t get it back,” Nelson said.
“Without a public school it’s hard to sell a town. I tell a lot of people that come down to look at houses: ‘Ya know we're a nice little town we got two nice schools, we're a crime free town, we don't even have a police department, Nipigon patrols here a couple times of day.’”
The plan is to close the school at the end of this school year and have students bus 20 kilometres down the highway to George O'Neill Public School in Nipigon this fall.
Superior-Greenstone District School Board Director of Education Dave Tamblyn said a minimum of 80 students would have to be enrolled in order to keep the school open.
“We’ve had about under 25 students now for 5 years and we’ve tried a number of different things to try and bring students back,” Tamblyn said.
“We were also hopeful that after the mill closure a new industry would move into town, new families would move into the community, but that hasn’t panned out and looking at the class sizes we have now it’s not a viable program that we can offer.”
A small group of parents and community members came out Wednesday evening to voice their concerns regarding the closure.
Parent Cassandra Clyne is not in favour of the closure and was disappointed by the turnout.
“I wish that it would have impacted the community enough to the point that a lot of other people have shown up and expressed their views,” Clyne said.
“This school right now may only be affecting 11 families give or take that we have in this school, but this is a community school and it’s been here forever.”
Derek Miller and his family moved to Red Rock last year, and understands the position the board is in and supports the plan.
“They haven’t announced their decision yet, but I’m pretty sure the writings on the wall with the population in the school is actually down to nine at this time and there’s little hope for it,” Miller said.
“To me it makes sense for the kid’s sake to be integrated into George O’Neill in Nipigon.”
Wednesday’s meeting was the final consultation with the public before the board has to render its decision regarding the future of Red Rock Public School, which will take place next month.
(TBT News)
