The Boundary’s school board will vote next month on whether or not to consider closing Midway Elementary.
If approved, the measure would kick off two months of consultations with area parents, staff and other community stakeholders starting in the new year, according to Anna Lautard, Superintendent at School District 51 (SD 51). Midway Elementary’s 36 students, now enrolled in kindergarten through Grade 3, would be enrolled at Greenwood Elementary if the village school were closed, Lautard explained in a letter to parents Wednesday, Nov. 24.
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The school board has the authority to permanently close district schools through a bylaw, according to SD 51’s policy. The school board will give this bylaw a first reading at its next regular meeting, which is open to the community via Zoom at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 14. The board will then vote on whether or not to move forward with the consultation process, based on public input.
As part of the consultation process, the board would have to host a public meeting at Midway Elementary or somewhere else in the village, the policy states.
The board can shutter a school for a variety of reasons, including declining enrollment and amalgamating two or more different “surplus” schools.
Combining the Midway and Greenwood schools would consolidate around 65 students in kindergarten through Grade 7 at Greenwood Elementary, which currently teaches Grades 4-7, according to SD 51’s website.
Lautard and school board president Rose Zitko were not available for comment before this story was published online Friday afternoon, Nov. 25. Neither were the members of the schools’ District Parents Advisory Committees.
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