A community meeting is being held to discuss the boundary change as a result of the new school being built in Lakeshore.
The information meeting will be held by the Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) at Lakeshore Discovery on Wednesday evening to explain the rationale behind the decision to adjust the boundary.
The new school will be added between Belle River Public School and Lakeshore Discovery Public School, and since it is strictly French Immersion, it will be absorbing students from both public schools into the new one.
Effective Sept. 1, 2027, all Kindergarten to Grade 8 students within the Lakeshore Discovery, Belle River Public School, and Centennial Central Public School in Comber boundary and wish to take French Immersion would now attend the new school.
Todd Awender, Superintendent of Education for the GECDSB, says they want to provide the information far enough in advance.
"We gave the information to Centennial Central, which is the Comber district; the Belle River Public School, which is the Belle River district; and then the Lakeshore Discovery School, which is a Lakeshore district. And those three schools are affected, and in the information it talks about how the new school will be a French Immersion school, and not a dual-track."
He says the meeting is to explain why the decision was made to change the boundary.
"One of the rationale is you look at do you make it a dual-track school just as Belle River and Lakeshore, do you make it a single-track English school, or do you make it a single-track French Immersion school, and those are basically the three options that we could look at for this particular situation."
Awender says parents are encouraged to attend.
"I've already received emails from a number of parents just asking questions about certain things, and hopefully we can answer that evening as well if some of the same questions come up. We do provide them the opportunity to provide any comments or, obviously, ask any questions that they may have."
He says this decision was necessary due to the continuous overcapacity of students at Belle River Public School and Lakeshore Discovery Public School, which each have numerous portables.
Those in the English program at all three of the public schools will remain in their current school.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new Lakeshore elementary school on March 5, 2026.
The information meeting will take place at Lakeshore Discovery on April 15 at 6 p.m. in the gymnasium.