A Mississauga elementary school will be the first to hit the chopping block, after trustees from the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board approved its closure this week.

Blessed Trinity School on Credit Valley Road will close after the school year ends in June 2009, and students at the school will be redirected to the nearby St. Rose of Lima next September — a school that was also slated to close.

Changing demographics in the area of Central Erin Mills, including an increasing number of baby boomers, fewer children of school age, and decreasing number of Catholics moving into the area has led to significantly reduced enrolment in Catholic schools. “The population and demographics are changing,” said Bruce Campbell, the spokesman for the school board.

“You have to be Catholic to go to a Catholic elementary school, and so we have found our enrolment dwindling,” he said.

The final decision to close the school came after a yearlong review and multiple consultation process with community members, but the news was still a blow to parents.

“The process was a long, extensive, comprehensive one and the possibility of (closure) existed all along,” said Campbell. “But once it actually happens, it’s still pretty shocking,” he said.
“Nobody is overjoyed that a school is being closed.”

The closure is expected to save the board an esti mated $160,400. The outcome of two other area reviews, Bramalea North and Dixie Shorefront, will take place over the next month.