Franklin Hill school yard battle heats up at city hall meeting

Parents upset over a plan to take a piece of green space on the property of an English-language elementary school in Repentigny and build a French-language elementary school took their concerns to city hall last night.

But the city said there's nothing more it can do and there is no other place to build the new school, needed to accommodate the area's growing population east of Montreal.

"We have to optimize the territory,"RepentignyMayorChantalDeschampstold a group of parents who gathered yesterday to express their frustration over the decision.

Parent Anna Caruso, whose children have attendedFranklin Hill Elementary school for the past seven years,said building a new school on the propertywould mean some 1,400 children, hundreds of parents, and dozens of school buses would pass through the suburban area every day.

"It's unfair and it's a lack of planning," she said.

For more on the heated meeting, watch the report above by CBC's Alex Leduc.