Levack parents raise concerns over planned school right-sizing

Parents are concerned about the right sizing of Levack Public School, which could see an entire wing demolished. A new petition aims to halt those plans.

Parents in Greater Sudbury community of Levack are pushing back against a proposed rightsizing of their local public school, citing uncertainty over renovations, classroom space and the future of an on-site daycare.

Dayna Littlejohn, chair of the parent council at Levack Public School, said that at the end of the 2025 school year, the council was told to expect upgrades to the schoolyard. When they returned in September, nothing had been done.

“We were greenlit and then two months went by and then I don’t know what happened, and the answer was we were due to be right-sized, and so because we’re due to be right-sized, no other upgrades can occur until we’re right-sized,” she said.

School board cites low enrolment as reason for rightsizing

According to a letter sent to parents by the Rainbow District School Board, the board approved a motion in 2019 to right-size the school pending Ministry of Education approval. The school is currently operating at approximately 39 percent capacity. Built to accommodate 351 students, the school was previously a high school and now has enrollment below 135 students.

Littlejohn said that as far as she knows, an entire wing of the building will be demolished when the work takes place and the impact will go beyond the school itself.

“Our school is kind of an odd shape, so it creates a square. And then there’s this little wing that branches off of it. But in the main of our rectangle, we have a full-sized staff lounge because it was a high school, we have a full-size cafeteria, a full-size gym, a full-size library,” she said.

“We do also have a special education room, and, yeah, we just be short on classrooms and currently the proposed solution is our daycare would have to go into a half of our cafeteria, I believe. So, we’ve stopped using half of our cafeteria.”

Littlejohn also explained that there is a sizable difference in “real estate” in half of a cafeteria versus what the daycare has at this time.

CTV News reached out to Magic Triangle, which operates the daycare based in the school, for comment, but did not receive a response. The Ministry of Education also received multiple requests from the newsroom but again did not respond.

Petition urges halt to rightsizing plans

Littlejohn said she has started a petition that Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas will bring to Queen’s Park in early May. The petition urges the government and the board to halt any rightsizing or demolition plans affecting the school and to support the continuation of previously planned school repairs, upgrades and capital work without reducing the size or capacity.

The petition has already gathered more than 400 signatures.

No work scheduled this school year, board says

The letter from the board said no work is scheduled to take place this school year and discussions with the ministry are ongoing.

“Like our families, we value Levack Public School and its importance to the community. When we receive more direction from the ministry, we will provide an update, including timelines,” said Bruce Bourget, the board’s director of education.

According to board officials, Levack is the only school “well below its capacity” in the board.