As Vancouver parents organize to save schools, parents at Hume Park Elementary in New Westminster have also been feeling the effects of an uncertain future.

Hume Park parent Nikki Binns, who has led the fight to keep her school's doors open for the last two years, says families are leaving the school because they don't know if it will be open come next year.

"We know there are six families moving up to (Richard) McBride this year, just from being tired of being jerked around this year," she said.

Last spring, the school district announced that Hume Park wouldn't have a kindergarten class this fall. The reason the district gave was that only two students had registered. The school had 62 students last year. This year, the district is expecting 38 students to enrol at Hume Park.

Board of education chair James Janzen acknowledged in the spring that the school's pending closure, which has cropped up two years in a row, has likely impacted registration numbers.

"When you start talking about closing schools, some people start voting with their feet," Janzen said at the time. "Just by having a district talk about closing a school, some people say, 'Well, I'm just going to take my kids somewhere else.' ... I think it's almost inevitable."

Trustees narrowly voted in the spring of 2009 to keep the school open. It was being considered for closure in a bid to save money. Voice New Westminster trustees Casey Cook, Lisa Graham and Jim Goring voted at the time to accept a staff recommendation to close the school, while union-endorsed trustees Lori Watt, Michael Ewen and James Janzen, along with independent Brent Atkinson, voted to keep it open.

Then, to the surprise of Hume Park parents, the school was put back on the chopping block in the spring of this year. The board narrowly voted in favour of keeping it there until October, when the board will revisit whether to close the school.

For Binns, the last couple of years have been a frustrating roller-coaster ride, and she fears this latest decision - not offering kindergarten at Hume Park - spells the end for the school.

"It's a slow death for the school," Binns said.

For Binns, a New Westminster resident, the experience has left such a bad taste in her mouth that she doesn't want to stay in the district. She's already enrolled two of her children in a Burnaby elementary school.

Hume Park isn't the only school to be considered for closure in recent years. The district looked into closing Connaught Heights Elementary when it was determining the size of a new elementary school planned for the old Saint Mary's Hospital site. Ultimately, the district chose to build a smaller school and keep Connaught open.