Queensland Downs School to close

A southeast Calgary elementary school is closing despite emotional attempts from parents to keep it open.

Trustees voted unanimously to close Queensland Downs School, one of three elementary schools in the neighbourhood of Queensland, during a Calgary Board of Education meeting Tuesday evening.

The school will close in June and students will be sent to either Haultain Memorial School or Deer Run School once classes resume.

The closure was controversial because many parents and students preferred to keep Queensland Downs open, even though the area's elementary schools can hold 1,000 students yet only have a projected enrollment of just over 500.

Also on Tuesday, trustees voted unanimously for a staged closure of the English program at Dalhousie School, starting in June.

The idea of turning Dalhousie School into a fully Spanish bilingual school was not met with as much opposition. The board plans to send students from Dalhousie School two kilometres down the road to West Dalhousie Elementary School.

Public schools and programs also up for closure this year are:

• Eugene Coste School.
• The kindergarten to Grade 3 Traditional Learning Centre program at Highwood School.
• The regular kindergarten to Grade 6 program at Dr. J.K. Mulloy School.
• The regular kindergarten to Grade 6 program at Chris Akkerman School.