St. Agatha Catholic Elementary School is staying open for now – but the long-term picture for the smallest Catholic school in Waterloo Region remains cloudy.

Trustees with the Waterloo Catholic District School Board voted Monday night to keep the school open, and make a series of boundary adjustments to boost its enrolment.

In the meantime, the board will lobby the province to fund a new school in Wilmot Township.

Parents who fought hard for several years to keep the school open smiled and applauded when the decision was finalized.

“Gratitude is the first thing that comes to mind, followed closely by elation,” Cathy Mallick, who has four kids at the school, told CTV News.

Ashley Cvar, a St. Agatha student who would have been moved to a Waterloo school if St. Agatha was closed, said she prefers the community feel of her current school.

“You know everybody’s name. It’s like you’re part of one big, yet small, family,” she said.

St. Agatha had been on the chopping block for several years due to low enrolment, with approximately 100 kids attending the facility this year.

“The parents are really committed,” said school principal Mary Mayer.

“They’ve endured a little bumpy ride on the bus to make sure that they have Catholic education for their children.”

Under the plan approved by trustees, boundary adjustments will see two St. Agatha students move to St. Nicholas Catholic Elementary School in Waterloo.

A portion of Wilmot Township currently sending its children to Holy Family Catholic Elementary School in Baden will be reassigned to St. Agatha, but families with children already attending Holy Family will have the option of choosing either school.

But when a new school is built in the township, board chair Wayne Buchholtz cautioned, it likely won’t be in St. Agatha proper.

“It needs to be more centralized, more in an area where the population is,” he said.

“Very few students come from St. Agatha itself.”

Renovating St. Agatha to bring it up to sufficient standards for the long-term would cost $2 million, school board officials said.