Mothers vow fight to keep Springfield PS open

An ad hoc committee founded by five mothers held its first public meeting, attended by about 50, Monday night, Oct. 3, to enlist support to keep Springfield Public School open.

The committee is less than a week old, and was formed after word that Thames Valley District School Board was considering closing Springfield, South Dorchester and New Sarum public schools in Elgin County and Westminster Central in rural southeast London, in favour of a large new school in Belmont.

Jessica Goodwill, who has lived in the area for only a year, is one of the leaders of the committee, and served as chairman for the meeting, doing most of the talking.

She’d moved away from a big city just so her children could attend a small rural school, not one with 500 to 700 pupils.

“At least if we lose, we can send our kids to their new school and say we tried. Our kids are watching us.

“Instead of sitting around the dining room table saying how much we hate the school board, we can show we have a voice.”