Students the losers in catchment area crisis
COUNTY Wexford students are losing out due to the lack of joined- up thinking when it comes to catchment areas for schools in the county.
Cllr Lisa McDonald’s motion stated: ‘ That this council believes all children regardless of their religious denomination or none, should have access to a school in their local community and that selection rules should be based on two mandatory principles, firstly a siblings first rule and secondly that children living in new catchment areas would be prioritised with access to a school place in that area.’
The motion called for an end to the religious barrier to admission in Irish schools. The motion was seconded by Cllr George Lawlor and is to be sent by way of submission to the Department of Education who are currently taking submissions from the public on the baptism barrier, before March 20.
Cllr Lawlor said some students are getting the bus outside a brand new school in County Wexford and being driven to another school when the school they have just left from is not full to capacity. He said this is adding to the over subscription problem in Wexford schools.
Cllr McDonald described the Government’s current policy as being akin to gerrymandering. ‘ The department says there is no need for a new secondary school in Wexford town because the catchment area is the entire county and no rule is being broken.’
Cllr Deirdre Wadding said two separate issues were being addressed in the motion. ‘ It’s an absolutley desperate situation that exists in Wexford town at the moment. It’s a huge issue,’ she said.
Cllr Malcolm Byrne agreed, adding that the situation is also bad in rural areas. ‘ I fully believe in the principle of choice in education. Kids have no choice.’
Speaking afterwards Cllr McDonald said the Equal Status Act 2000 prohibited religious discrimination in educational services. ‘ However the act allows schools to enrol co- religionists in preference to members of other faiths where the school is oversubscribed.’
She said the selection criteria for over- subscribed schools should be based on locality and catchment area, adding that catchment areas could be sized according to the popularity of the schools ethos e. g. Presbyterian schools or Jewish schools would have an extremely wide catchment for admissions as there are so few of these schools in the country. ‘ This would protect them as minority denominational schools.’
Cllr McDonald said this change in policy would alleviate some of the problem in the Wexford district. ‘ Currently the oversubscription is being fuelled by the fact that children from outside the area are being favoured through the application of the so- called parental rule over children from the area.
‘All five schools in Wexford town are oversubscribed at present and this oversubscription is set to continue unless something changes,’ she said
‘ This change in admissions policy would also cure all ills as it would ensuring that our children get a place in a school in their locality. The ferrying of our secondary children from town to town would be alleviated as a result and the principle of equality would be stronger in terms of our admissions policies.’