Parents & students at West Park Secondary are vowing to keep up the fight to keep the St. Catharines school open.

District School Board of Niagara trustees have voted to close it along with Kernahan Park in August of 2013.  Thorold's only high school was spared from the chopping block.

The vote was close as it could be be, with 5 trustees backing recommendations by senior board staff, 5 voting against.  Board Chair Kevin Maves was the deciding vote.

But Tammy Dunbar, a West Park mom thinks 1 of the trustees' votes shouldn't have counted.  Dunbar tells 610 CKTB's Tom McConnell, Dale Robinson showed conflict of interest.  Though she was elected trustee for Thorold & Pelham, Dunbar says Robinson's supposed to represent the entire region.

Dunbar says West Park parents are talking with a lawyer to see if they can have Robinson's vote thrown out.  They're also asking the Ministry of Education to investigate what Dunbar calls a "handful of procedural and policy errors" made through the decision-making process.  A ministry probe would put school closures on hold.

Dunbar admits she's frustrated by the whole accommodations review process.  She thinks senior staff base their recommendations on politics 1st, money 2nd &  people last.  Dunbar calls those priorities "abhorrent".

RELATED: DSBN: Close West Park, Kernahan Park