Thorold residents attempt to save school

About two dozen Thorold residents, including two City Councillors, gathered at Kernahan Park Secondary School on Feb. 2 to speak out against the possible closing of Thorold Secondary School.

Thorold's only high school is one of several being considered for closure – but, the residents say, it is too important to Thorold to be shut down.

The board's Accommodation Review Committee has had to put four secondary schools in the Region under the microscope due to dropping enrolment rates. Depending on the review, up to three of the schools could close.

The group has been presented four options to review, three of which involve closing of Thorold Secondary School and all of which involve closing of Kernahan Park Secondary School.  

Tim Whalen, a Thorold City Councillor, said that the best option would be to not close any schools. However, it would be particularly hard for Thorold to lose its school.

"Leave Thorold High alone," said Whalen, at the meeting. "Thorold has lost enough."

At the meeting, Ted Luciani, a Thorold City Councillor, told the committee that with 3,700 new housing units to come to Thorold within the next few years, it makes no sense to close the school.

"There is no reason to close it," said Whalen, at the meeting, "it isn't feasible."  

The school board has also spent $5 million in the past eight years on upkeep for Thorold Secondary School, and if the school were to close it would mean the board would have to spend an extra $10.5 million building portables at Sir Winston Secondary School, in St. Catharines, to accommodate the Thorold students.

The student population is down at Thorold Secondary School is down to only 400 students. However, Whalen argued that many Thorold students bus to St. Catharines because they have no jurisdictional restrictions. If these students stayed in Thorold, he said, they would be able to fill the high school.

According to Whalen, if Thorold were to offer the course options students want to take, the board would not have to pay for extra bussing and Thorold students would be able to stay in Thorold. With at least four public elementary schools in Thorold which feed into Thorold Secondary School it would not be difficult to be able to fill the school.  

One example Whalen offered were the many students who are leaving Thorold to take French immersion, with the nearest program offered at Sir Winston Secondary School. If a similar program were to open in Thorold, these students could be diverted to Thorold Secondary School, helping to fill up the school and solving part of the population problem.

There is no set date for the closure of any of these schools, as a decision on what plan to follow has yet to be made. Once a decision is made, time lines will be discussed in order to give adequate time to decide where students will go.