Dear editor:

Letter writer Lauren Bubnic deserves credit for believing “strongly in the right to a public education” (“Letter: NOTL needs public, not private, education options,” July 24), but she is misinformed when she suggests that NOTL residents did not fight to try to save Parliament Oak Elementary School.

In fact, they did. It’s important to keep the record straight.

Parents and families fought long and hard to keep public education in Old Town, including launching a costly and time-consuming court challenge against the District School Board of Niagara.

The case by the residents’ group called Citizens for Accountable and Responsible Education (CARE) went all the way to the Ontario Superior Court.

The school board spent more than $170,000 of taxpayers’ money to fight NOTL families and close Parliament Oak school.

The school board won in court. The residents’ group — and arguably, all NOTL residents — lost.

Royal Oak Community School was founded shortly after to make sure that there will still be elementary education in Old Town.

It is also incorrect to depict Royal Oak as a “private school.” It is a not-for-profit community school. This is an important difference.

Yes, Royal Oak does require fees, but all funds go toward the school and its programs. That is the only way to keep elementary education alive in Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Old Town.

It would be great Old Town still had a public elementary school, but it seems our elected officials decided otherwise a long time ago.

David Israelson
NOTL