The Flesherton community is rallying to save a learning area for Kindergartens at the local elementary school.
A petition to "Save the Kindy Forest" at MacPhail Memorial Elementary has received over 1,200 signatures, and organizers will soon have a chance to present it to the Bluewater District School Board in hopes of preserving the space.
Organizer Jess McQueen says the board has plans to do away with the area this summer.
"Now we're very upset to see that it will be — well it's not fully planned yet — but from what we hear, the plan on tearing all the trees out and placing asphalt for, three portables right now, but probably six in the future," she said.
The Kindy Forest is a fenced in space of over 60 trees on the school grounds that McQueen says gives the earliest grades a chance to get in touch with nature.
"Because there's like no green space in the (proposed) plan for our Kindys, then they would just be stuck on this little part of asphalt that they have," she said. "They do have chalk games and things on the asphalt, but it's just not as meaningful as the Kindy Forest."
McQueen says the group has identified other areas the portables can go. They're curious whether the board has considered those options, and if so, for what reasons did they pass on them?
One parent, Claudia Lorenz, had a delegation prepared for the BWDSB meeting on Tuesday, March 19, to share concerns about the removal of the forest, but the meeting was cancelled due to weather.
The group won't have to wait long for a chance to share their thoughts. On Thursday, there will be a public info session at the school, where McQueen says Superintendent of Education Lauren Penner Lipsett and Superintendent of Business Services Andrew Low will be in attendance.
The public meeting will be held at MacPhail Elementary at 5:30 p.m. on March 21.