Students trying to get to École Cobble Hill for opening day last week found a favourite opening in the fence closed to them.
According to parent Mari Ann Nissinen Rockson, her children and others were surprised to encounter a locked gate and had to make their way around outside before getting onto the school grounds.
“All I know is that the kids showed up for school this morning and the gate was locked. The principal didn’t have a key and nobody knew who put the lock there. Maintenance had to go find bolt cutters to cut it and in the meantime the kids had to go tromping around to the other side of the field to get to one of the other access gates,” she said.
The school owns the fence but it accesses a trail that crosses some parkland.
“My kids are older so I very rarely go to the front end of the school. I really don’t need to park and walk my kids into the building; I drop my kids off, and they can run. There are also lots of kids that ride their bikes to school that use it; they live across the highway in that whole area around Braithwaite. That’s how they get into the school. If they can’t get in there, the detour is two or three kilometres,” she said.
Lise Pagé, principal of École Cobble Hill, said Sept. 16 that the problem has been solved.
She said that she phoned the school district’s operations department immediately.
“They came and they broke the lock and since then we have put our own chain and lock on it and it’s open for use and there’s no problem. The kids have access to that back area,” she said.
Pagé said between 40-60 students, parents and teachers use the access.