Parents in Lakeshore whose children attend elementary schools in the French Catholic board are upset at a pending closure.
The Conseil scholaire catholique Providence sent a letter to parents about the move stating there was one public consultation tonight at 6:30 PM.
The letter dated October 24th refers to a decision of the board on June 20th to undertake a modified accommodation review.
The plan is to close St. Ambroise in St. Joachim and move most of the students to St. Paul in Stoney Point.
Parent Stephanie Gaudet says she and many others are upset about the short notice.
Gaudet says the plan will split the 110 students at St. Ambroise between 2 other schools, St. Paul's in Stoney Point and Pavillons des Jeunes in Belle River.
Gaudet says many of the parents didn't get the letter until several days later: "because this is the french board, all the correspondence is in french so some of our faculty went to the board and said because most of our parents only speak english so we didn't get the correspondence for this until the 27th or 28th of October"
Gaudet says the board has chosen to use a fast-track accomodation review to close the school sooner.
Board Director of Education Joseph Picard has responded.
He says an administration report coming out in early December is not carved in stone and that the trusatees have made it clear they want to listen to what peple have to say.
Picard says no-one will be prevented from speaking and they may schedule a second public session: "we decided that tonight there will be those opportunities and we may very well make other opportunities. These are very big decisions that have impact on communities and have a big impact on kids, on staff and parents so we want to make sure we get things right"
He says they will also have translation service available, because they realize many of the parents do not speak french.
The administration's recommendation will be made public December 2nd, there is a chance for delegations to make submissions to the board in mid-January in Pain Court and the final decision is to be made in mid-February.