Anxious parents living off the West Island appear to be no closer to finding out if a new school will be built to relieve a glut of students in Vaudreuil and St. Lazare, two of the fastest-growing towns in Canada.
The Lester B. Pearson school board has already ruled out a dozen locations for a new elementary school that it wants to build for 400 to 450 elementary-school children by September 2010.
Parents who attended a public meeting in St. Lazare on Tuesday evening were shown two potential properties, though each has its problems.
One, in Vaudreuil-Dorion, has a creek running through it and would need an expensive landfill. The other location in the same town sits next to a huge power line and is not far from a 90 km/h zone.
There is a third property that's being offered up in nearby St. Lazare, but board chairman Marcus Tabachnick didn't divulge the exact location at the request of the developer.
The businessman requested confidentiality pending discussions with the municipality about possible zoning changes.
Anxious parents
The uncertainty made parents like Armando Jardin even more anxious about the situation facing their children.
"I just want to make sure whatever is being put on the table that there's transparency," he told CTV News at the meeting.
A mother says the overcrowding problem means her son doesn't have access to a school that's practically next door.
"I live five minutes away from the school that I registered him for," said Rose Bloom.
"I'm being bussed 45 minutes into a neighbouring town. So my concern is -- is he going to be bussed over a bridge next year? I mean if that's the case I'm not interested."
Complicated process
Tabachnick says he shares the parents' concerns but that the zoning process is complicated, school boards are not consulted and things could be drawn out even further because of the Nov. 1 municipal elections.
