The Edmonton Public School Board voted Tuesday to close two schools in northeast Edmonton, setting in motion a plan to replace them with one school in the coming years.
As a result of the vote, Montrose and Mount Royal Elementary Schools will eventually be closed – saying both are becoming too costly to keep open.
Students who attend those two schools will eventually go to Highlands Junior High, and that school will be upgraded and converted into a school for Kindergarten to Grade 9.
EPSB Vice Chair Ray Martin told CTV News parents were pleased with the idea of closing the schools, as long as there was a better option for students.
“What you’ll have in the Highlands School is a much more modern classroom, technology will be better, it’ll be newer, so it’ll be a better learning situation for the students,” Martin said.
While the decision has been made, the doors of those two schools won’t close right away, that won’t happen until Highlands Junior High is ready to accommodate their students. The board doesn’t expect to close the schools for at least another three years.
With files from Matt Woodman
UPDATE (07/06/2017): Edmonton Public later clarified the vote was to consider closing the two schools and to ask the Education Minister for an exemption to the process carried out during normal closures, as consultations have already been done.
“Our district has worked with the community through a consultation process for a number of years to get to this point. If the Minister grants the exemption, the board will vote on the closure of the schools,” an EPSB spokesperson said.
