Only student at Long Island Academy wants to stay until graduation

The only student at Long Island Academy in Beaumont, Notre Dame Bay, wants the school to remain open until she graduates in 2017.

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"I was really surprised and upset," is how Laura Oake described her feelings on hearing that her school isunder review by the Newfoundland and LabradorEnglish School District (NLESD).

"If it closes I won't be able to finish my final year at the school I've went to all my life."

Long Island Academy,a Grade 7-12 school, is one of five currently under review for closure.

Oake, now in Grade 11, told the Central Morning Show Mondayshe doesn't mind being the only student.

It's going to mean the world to me, just to be the last graduate.- Laura Oake

"I've never thought,ever, that I was missing out on being social. Iam social. I can really talk to anybody," she said.

"Being around people my age is not what's important to me right now."

What is important is her grades, and Oakesaid sheworries they will suffer if she has to transfer to Dorset Collegiate in Pilley's Island, a ferry ride away.

"Some nights Iprobably wouldn't make it home, and some days I probably wouldn't get off the island and I would miss school," she said.

"In Grade 12, it's a really critical year and you want to get as much as you can without having to worry about ferries and all kindsof problems like that."

Oake's wants school trustees to knowshe would like the school to remain open for the one year she has left.

"It's going to mean the world to me," she said. "Just to be the last graduate would mean so much because the history our school has with the community."

'Don't do it for the money'

The provincial New Democratic Party is encouraging theNLESDto hear fromstudents like Oakebefore making any decisions about possible closures.

"They need to make sure that one student is being taken care of," saidMHA Lorraine Michael, who attended a trustees meeting in St. John'sSaturday.

"We cannot have any decision made because of money."

The NLESDis also considering the closure of Heritage Academy in Greenspond, which will have only three students in September.

Sacred Heart All Grade School in Conche, with 14 students, is also under review, as areHoly Cross Junior Highin St. John's and WhitbourneAcademy.

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"I'm encouraging the board to reach out," said Michael.

"You cannot say because we haven't heard from anyone, then everything's alright."