NWETSS EXPECTS CLARITY THIS WEEK REGARDING NEW SCHOOL SITE
NORTH Wicklow Educate Together secondary school is still awaiting clarity on its future after Department of Education officials last week met school representatives and the KWETB respectively.
Principal of NWETSS Jonathan Browner said that the Kildare Wicklow Education and Training Board has now made it clear that it does not wish to have the new secondary school building co-located on the campus of Bray Institute of Further Education on Novara Avenue.
Mr Browner said that he is expecting communication from the Department of Education in the coming week, with some clarity about what their plans are for a site for the build of a new school premises.
Meanwhile, the lease on their temporary home on Putland Road is expected to expire in April. Mr Browner said that similarly, the Department is looking into options for a solution to that more pressing issue.
‘We’re hoping that they will be able to discuss a lease extension or contingency plan,’ said Mr Browner, who hopes that matter will be dealt with in the same letter from the department.
‘Nothing has been announced to us officially,’ said Mr Browner. ‘ The department has said they will announce their intentions in the next week or so, so by then we will know a lot more.’
NWETSS will be heading into its first Junior Certificate by the time the current lease expires.
Almost 200 students, staff and parents had made their way into the Dáil the previous week, to deliver a petition signed by 3,500 people.
Principal Jonathan Browner handed the letter demanding action, to Department of Education official Derek Newcombe, for the attention of the Minister for Education. Meetings followed between the stakeholders involved in the situation.
TDs Stephen Donnelly, John Brady, Richard Boyd-Barrett and Bríd Smith also met the protesters at the gates of the Dáil.