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Linbrook closing after 78 years in community By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF 3 · Friday, June 25, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com When teacher Carrie Tennant first walked into Linbrook Public School eight years ago for a job interview she knew that's where she wanted to stay and teach. "This sounds very cliché, but when I opened the front door it was like I was opening the door at home. I came in the door and was struck by the history that just seemed to be here," she said. "I came up the stairs, I looked around and I thought this is it, this is where I want to be." Now, eight years later, Linbrook is closing after serving the southeast Oakville community for 78 years. But if you ask Tennant, the school isn't closing, it is just evolving. "A school closing is not an ending, it is truly an evolution. Only ever has the decision been made (to close) in the best interest of the children looking towards tomorrow," she said. "We need to evolve and we need to embrace tomorrow. We're going to maintain the best of what is and what was and we'll make it even better when we embrace what we'll be." Linbrook was one of three southeast Oakville schools selected by the Part 2 of 3 Halton District School Board to close at the end of this school year, due to changing demographics in the area. The students at the school will be attending E.J. James, New Central and James W. Hills schools this September. Linbrook was originally built in 1932 in the middle of a field as a oneroom classroom with front office space. The original classroom is now the school's library and the office hasn't moved. Over the years the school has grown to accommodate the increase in population as homes went up around the school. Today, there are 11 classrooms plus several portables to accommodate the 400 French immersion students at the school. Tennant can relate to the school. She's had many family members who were teachers, her great-aunt taught in a one-room school house, and Tennant herself went through a school closing in her own childhood. "To know we have had an impact on the community for 78 years is just MICHAEL IVANIN / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER LOOKING BACK: Linbrook Public School student Jennifer Scaife and school alumni Janet Windmill look at some old pictures during Linbrook's recent farewell open house. a tremendous thing," she said. "We know that we're a part of a community. It's not simply a pile of bricks and mortar. A school is not a structure, it's a living entity," she said. She said there is a lot of parent volunteerism at the school, with fundraisers, field trips and more. "As much as I've adored the schools I've been to, I've never worked in a school where there was such a connection with the community. We're very fortunate here to have parents support us in infinite amount of ways." The school has also been involved in numerous fundraisers and drives over the years. The students collect trick or treat money for UNICEF, but instead of collecting pennies they do good deeds for a donation. Each time there is a natural disaster around the world the students do food and clothing drives. This year Haiti was the beneficiary. At Christmas time the students do a toy, hat and mitten drive, as well as doing fundraisers for Kerr Street Ministries and women's shelters. Tennant added the school has another annual tradition that has become a part of the community ­ the celebration of Carnival. For a week before Mardi Gras the celebration includes speeches by students, crepe eating, songs and performances, the school gets decorated and even parents come in for the celebrations. "This is something that is known throughout the community," Tennant said. "And we have children that, they come in Grade 1 and their older brother or sister did it, and they've heard about it, they know about it and it really is something that is truly infectious." When the school first opened it had a different tradition. The one teacher organized a Christmas conSee Linbrook page 5 LOOKING FORWARD with FASHION