That’s because parents of the 91 students who attend the school elected to keep their children home for the day. When classes started close to 8:30 a.m. there were six students in class, but as the morning progressed that number shrunk to one.
Students were held out today as a part of a province-wide initiative intended to protest the changes to the school system in the past couple of months. Parents were speaking out against overfilled classrooms, busing problems and other issues affecting students since they went back to school in September.
That’s nothing new for parents in the Trinity-Conception region. On multiple occasions, parents in Whitbourne, Spaniard’s Bay, Harbour Grace and Bay Roberts have protested the various changes made in their districts.
Today, there were similar demonstrations at St. Francis in Harbour Grace and Holy Redeemer in Spaniard’s Bay kept their children home to protest the enforcement of a 1.6 km buffer zone around their schools.
In Whitbourne, more than a dozen parents and students lined themselves across the main entrance to the school and held up large signs and posters.
For these parents, what was billed as a province-wide walk out was two fold. They were supporting parents and students affected by changes to the school system.
“What the other schools are protesting, like Riverside Elementary, those are issues our students will have to face if our kids have to go to (Woodland Elementary) next year,” said Whitbourne walkout organizer Lorna Vokey.
It also served as another in a long line of protests against the impending closure of their school in June.
“Our support is stronger than ever with continuous donations of time, talent and monies coming all the time, some from random strangers who are on our side,” said Vokey.
It’s been a roller coaster year for Whitbourne parents. Earlier this summer, a Supreme Court judge ruled the school would stay open after it was deemed the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District had not given parents enough time to digest an important report and violating procedural fairness.
Then in September, the NLESD board of trustees again voted to close the school effective this June.
“We are not a community basing our sentiment on the school, we are basing it on actual fact and the difference between the schools and what we’re going to be losing as opposed to what we’re supposedly gaining,” said school council member Rudy Mercer.
Walking the picket line, Mercer proudly displayed his Whitbourne Elementary tee shirt. It’s a shirt he wears everywhere, even when the temperature is hovering close to the freezing mark and that’s all he had on.
“Fighting for a just cause is one of those things that will keep you warm,” said Mercer.
That’s because parents of the 91 students who attend the school elected to keep their children home for the day. When classes started close to 8:30 a.m. there were six students in class, but as the morning progressed that number shrunk to one.
Students were held out today as a part of a province-wide initiative intended to protest the changes to the school system in the past couple of months. Parents were speaking out against overfilled classrooms, busing problems and other issues affecting students since they went back to school in September.
That’s nothing new for parents in the Trinity-Conception region. On multiple occasions, parents in Whitbourne, Spaniard’s Bay, Harbour Grace and Bay Roberts have protested the various changes made in their districts.
Today, there were similar demonstrations at St. Francis in Harbour Grace and Holy Redeemer in Spaniard’s Bay kept their children home to protest the enforcement of a 1.6 km buffer zone around their schools.
In Whitbourne, more than a dozen parents and students lined themselves across the main entrance to the school and held up large signs and posters.
For these parents, what was billed as a province-wide walk out was two fold. They were supporting parents and students affected by changes to the school system.
“What the other schools are protesting, like Riverside Elementary, those are issues our students will have to face if our kids have to go to (Woodland Elementary) next year,” said Whitbourne walkout organizer Lorna Vokey.
It also served as another in a long line of protests against the impending closure of their school in June.
“Our support is stronger than ever with continuous donations of time, talent and monies coming all the time, some from random strangers who are on our side,” said Vokey.
It’s been a roller coaster year for Whitbourne parents. Earlier this summer, a Supreme Court judge ruled the school would stay open after it was deemed the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District had not given parents enough time to digest an important report and violating procedural fairness.
Then in September, the NLESD board of trustees again voted to close the school effective this June.
“We are not a community basing our sentiment on the school, we are basing it on actual fact and the difference between the schools and what we’re going to be losing as opposed to what we’re supposedly gaining,” said school council member Rudy Mercer.
Walking the picket line, Mercer proudly displayed his Whitbourne Elementary tee shirt. It’s a shirt he wears everywhere, even when the temperature is hovering close to the freezing mark and that’s all he had on.
“Fighting for a just cause is one of those things that will keep you warm,” said Mercer.
