Parents ‘in the dark’ over patronage of new Greystones secondary school
PARENTS of schoolchildren in Greystones and Kilcoole remain in the dark regarding the patronage of the proposed new secondary school for the district, with the Department of Education yet to announce who will run the school.
The secondary school, due to open in September 2020, is planned to be located in the Charlesland area of the Greystones. Members of Greystones Municipal District heard last Tuesday evening that negotiations are still under way and there is no fixed date yet to announce a patron.
Cllr Jennifer Whitmore said that she is being contacted ‘on a daily basis’ by parents who are concerned at the delay in deciding a patron and the lack of information. ‘It is now nearly eight weeks since the patronage competition for the school closed, and there is still no information as to who will run the new school. Until that decision is made, there can be no progress towards hiring the principal, establishing a Board of
Management or locating accommodation for the school. There is a considerable volume of work that needs to be undertaken before the school can open in September of next year,’ said Cllr Whitmore. ‘ This delay in progressing the school is placing a considerable amount of stress on parents and children. In particular, parents of children with any special educational requirements don’t know if the new school will be able to meet their needs. I have written to the Minister for Education to ask that he speed up this process and to outline the impact it was having parents and children. I know many parents have also done similar. Unfortunately, I have only received the standard departmental response so far.’
Cllr Whitmore said that moving onto secondary school should be an exciting milestone for children. ‘Instead, we have a large number of students in our locality who do not know what school they will be going to next year.’