The province says merging students and closing underused schools could eventually lead to a savings of $70 million each year and is needed because of declining enrollment.

But the decision to close a school, or to build newer schools, can be emotionally difficult for families.

That’s the case for Cassie Beaulieu and her sisters, who are preparing to attend a new school this fall.

They will attend St. John’s Catholic School, which has undergone $6.6 million in renovations.

“I’m open to change because change is a new adventure,” she says.

The change comes after the school the girls had attended since kindergarten, Monsignor Gleason Catholic School, was closed.

It was declared surplus in 2011, and it’s still unclear what the building will eventually be used for.

The school was one of the reasons their father, Denis Beaulieu, moved the family to that particular Kitchener neighbourhood.

“We’re right across the street from the school. It was an English Catholic school and we’re Catholic, so we thought it was a perfect fit.”

But an accommodation review by the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) found there has been a steady decline in enrollment at the school, with fewer families moving into the region.

Larry Clifford with the WCDSB says “Families aren’t having as many children. The immigrant population coming to Canada are not of Catholic background.”

According to the board, 665 fewer students will enroll in Catholic schools for the next school year.

That means $5 million less in revenue, leading to 38 educational assistants and 26 teachers losing their jobs.

Clifford says “There are many challenges, from a dollars and cents point of view, from the school board’s viewpoint.”

For families though, the closures mean big changes to their regular routine. Cassie says “It’s a little nerve-wracking, but I’m excited. It’s a new school; everything’s new, new technology.”

Building new schools is also something the board says will save money in the long run, Clifford says, “on things like electricity, plumbing and heating, so we can put that money into IT, classrooms, programs, curriculum for the kids.”

The trade-off is that the Beaulieu sisters will be spending a bit more time getting to school in the first place.

Coming up in part three: What happens to students and the community when a rural high school closes.