NEWS OF CLOSURE WAS LIKE A BEREAVEMENT - CASSERLY

The decision to wind down St Mary’s College in Ballisodare over the next two years has hit the staff, students and community like a “bereavement.”

That’s according to Independent Councillor Marie Casserly who was speaking both as a current teacher in the college and as a member of Sligo Municipal District.

Standing orders were suspended at Monday’s meeting to discuss a motion by Sinn Féin Councilor Thomas Healy calling on the trustees to extend the wind down from two to six years.

“My motion is seeking to give the school, its pupils, staff and families the chance to fight for its survival and to prove that it can be a viable educational facility for the future,” he told members.

“It’s not down to the Minister for Education, it’s the Trustees who need to move it from two years to six,” he added. Cllr Healy organised a meeting with all four local TDs along with parents’ representatives last evening and there will be a public meeting in the Parish Hall in Corhownagh this evening (Tuesday). He’s also lobbied the Minister for Education Joe McHugh.

Fianna Fáil Cllr Seamus Kilgannon said if the college closed down, the Sligo town schools would come under pressure to accommodate the extra students. He said it was “very disappointing” and “unprofessional” of the C.E.I.S.T. (Catholic Education Irish Schools’ Trust) to not discuss their decision with stakeholders before announcing it last week and “putting shockwaves through the system.” Also supporting Cllr Healy was Independent Cllr Declan Bree who said for C.E.I.S.T. to send a text to parents inviting them to a meeting and without any advance warning to announde that they had decided to close the college, was treating parents and the Ballisodare community with “contempt.”

“I am at a loss to understand why the Board of C.E.I.S.T did not intervene and organise a meeting in Ballisodare to address the difficulty and seek the suport of the local community in terms of increasing pupil numbers. Fine Gael Cllr Sinead Maguire said she was told that some parents have already been told that Summerhill College and Coola second level school near Riverstown were full and the two girls’ colleges in Sligo were also under pressure. Cllr Casserly said it was “like a bereavement in the school since last Wednesday,” when parents were called to a meeting. Pointing to the student population of 175 and 17 teachers, Cllr Casserly said large schools were not for everyone and students thrived in small schools.

She said the Trustees were meeting again in March and in the meantime the School and community are putting together a strategy to save the school.

Sinn Féin Cllr Chris MacManus said the Catholic Church were “always saying they support rural communities - this is the time for them to step up and prove it.” The motion was agreed unanimously by Sligo Municipal District and was also to be put before Tubbercurry-Ballymote Municipal District meeting last evening.