By Richard Leitner, News Staff

At least two public school trustees are questioning the decision to target Parkside High School for closure and relocate students to Highland.

A staff recommendation presented on Monday calls for students to shift to Highland in September 2014 as part of a plan that would see $15 million in upgrades at the Governor’s Road school.

A competing recommendation from a volunteer accommodation review committee meanwhile calls for a new high school at Highland as well as one at Ancaster High – both rejected as too expensive by staff to be a viable option.

But Dundas trustee Jessica Brennan said the planned upgrades at Highland – including an extra gym, the replacement of four existing science labs with six new ones, an expanded cafeteria and three additional classrooms – “are not going to be enough.”

She said suggested the sale of Highland could generate more money for upgrades at Parkside because its property is more than four times bigger, but said Dundas deserves a new school.

“I know the fiscal responsibilities facing us on this board. I know there are very strong cases for new schools elsewhere,” Brennan said, noting the town has seen three elementary schools close in the past 10 year.

“This is a community already happy to merge the two schools in the community. They’re thrilled to do it. They’re already talking about how to do it, and that would be, of course, if the carrot in front of us was a new school.”

Flamborough trustee Karen Turkstra said she’d also “love to see a new school,” but if that’s not possible, calls for a study to address traffic and student safety concerns around Highland can be fixed by keeping Parkside open.

She said Parkside fits the bill for the merged school because about 100 of the projected 1,100 students will return to Waterdown District when the new addition opens.

“There’s over a thousand lockers at Parkside right now and the land is really, really well used,” Turkstra said.

“I’m very, very, very concerned about the traffic study. I don’t know if anybody’s driven along Governor’s Road in the morning, but that’s just a nightmare,” she said.

“You don’t need a traffic study if they go to Parkside. They go around the driving park, they drop them off and in they go,” she said.

Board consultant Dan Del Bianco said Highland is recommended as the preferred location because it has 7.2 hectares of land, compared to Parkside’s 1.6.

“It’s not only the building itself, it’s the outside programmable space, whether it be soccer fields, track field or whatnot,” he said. “It’s very challenging to do on such a small size.”

Trustees voted to receive the staff and committee recommendations as part of a 60-day consultation period that starts on Feb. 27 and will include public meetings on three separate reviews across the city that could close seven of 18 high schools.

A hearing on the Dundas plan, known as the West ARC, is set for 6 p.m. on April 2 at the board headquarters, 100 Main St. W.

All three plans are driven by the board’s wish to eliminate 2,600 surplus seats at city high schools, a number projected to grow to 6,000 by 2020.

Members of the public who are unable to make the hearings can offer their views in writing. To be included in the trustees’ package on the hearing date, the submissions must be received three businesses days beforehand.

But the board will continue to accept submissions until trustees make a final decision, which will be no earlier than May 28.

Anyone wishing to make a presentation to trustees must register by noon on the day of the hearing through education director John Malloy’s office at 905-527-5092 ext. 2297 or by emailing Heather Miller at heather.miller@hwdsb.on.ca.