It means summer holidays have begun and another school year is finished. Not in the Town of Whitbourne, however.
This year’s closing assembly marked the final one for Whitbourne Elementary. However, if the Help Whitbourne Elementary Committee has its way students will be back in September.
On Monday, the group launched a court challenge to the decision by the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District board of trustees on April 16 to close the school and move its students to nearby Woodland Elementary in New Harbour.
They believe the process to close Whitbourne was ”flawed and rushed” and all of the information parents and the school council presented was “ignored.”
“We want this process changed and we want accountability,” said committee chairman Wade Smith. “Whatever the decision is going to be, at the end of the day we want this processed changed. This decision should only be made by the minister.
“They’re the ultimate power in this province. That’s why we elected them.”
The court challenge will be only the beginning of what is sure to be a busy summer for supporters of Whitbourne school. Various protests are planned for the coming months as parents attempt to sway some sort of response that could see the decision reversed.
“We’re trying to save a school and save other schools down the road,” said school council chairman Patti Kennedy. “We’ve got nothing against the other school, it’s the process.
“The outcome is always the same.”
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The case will be heard in Supreme Court in St. John’s on June 29 at 10 a.m. The group will be represented by lawyer Daniel Simmons.
For more, see the June 28 print edition of the Compass.