Schools safe
Premier Wade MacLauchlan says now is not the time to close schools
“We have decided that now is not the time to close schools.” Premier Wade MacLauchlan made this announcement Tuesday morning after cabinet met and rejected recommendations passed just 15 hours earlier by the Public Schools Branch trustees to close St. Jean and Georgetown elementary schools. MacLauchlan says government has been listening to the thousands of Islanders who have voiced concerns about losing their community schools during the emotional and divisive P.E.I. school review process of the last several months. “We want to channel the passion and commitment that were displayed throughout this process and support the challenge Islanders have given themselves to grow our communities, local economies and population,” MacLauchlan said.
“Islanders have spoken loudly and clearly, and government will be here to support and work together with them.” A handful of parents who have been leading the charge in fighting for the St. Jean and Georgetown schools were invited to the news conference and burst into tears of joy at the announcement. “I can’t wait to go home and hug my kids,” said Kerri O’Brien of Georgetown. “The kids know now, the teachers know, everybody is crying,” said Melvin Ford, who was also crying.
On Monday evening, the three appointed board trustees of the Public Schools Branch endorsed the closure of St. Jean and Georgetown and rejected three other schools also recommended for closure by Public Schools Branch officials Bob Andrews and Parker Grimmer.
Pat Mella, one of the three board members, explained the board reviewed an unprecedented number of submissions and data submitted over the last several months but decided the two closures were warranted.
“I don’t feel good about closing anything, but you can’t just ignore the numbers and let them go down, it just is not realistic,” Mella said after the meeting Monday, referencing the small enrolments at both schools.
When asked if cabinet’s rejection of the trustees’ decision was government bowing to political pressure, MacLauchlan said the politics is already written in the school change process.
Final decisions on all school closures rest with cabinet. “From government’s perspective it’s very important to see this as a win-win and a go forward position… and if that includes an element of what you would call political judgment, that’s precisely why the school review process is set up to have a recommendation from the trustees to then be addressed by cabinet.”
“Knowing that our children will be proud of us for everything that we’ve done, it means everything to us. We did it.” Janna-Lynne Durant
Last fall and on several occasions since, Education Minister Doug Currie was firm the school review process would result in changes to the school system and that the “status quo is not an option.”
Changes are needed to address overcrowding at some Island schools while other schools sit half empty. Currie said Tuesday he believes this goal has been achieved, as the trustees did approve rezoning and programming changes to a number of schools.
Not all rezoning recommended by the school review was approved, but Currie says some pressures have been alleviated.
“As of September next year, we had situations where we had no capacity for the students that were coming in. If you look at the recommendations that were supported and rejected, it certainly deals with better balance.” Janna-Lynne Durant, president of the St. Jean home and school, said she did not expect government to overturn the board’s decision and that the emotional rollercoaster of the last 24 hours was a difficult one.
“Knowing that our children will be proud of us for everything that we’ve done, it means everything to us,” Durant said. “We did it.” Government also announced today it will add new mental health supports to schools, to be rolled out over the next three years, beginning at the Montague and Westisle families of schools.