School closure decision pushed back

The Eastern School District has voted to overturn plans to close Whitbourne Elementary School and Epiphany Elementary in Heart's Desire-Islington.

Instead, the board said it will hold another round of public consultations on whether to close the schools.

Milton Peach, the chair of the Eastern School District, said during a meeting in St. John's on Monday evening that the decision was all about transparency.

"There's been some indication that we had information that we didn't share with those people. We want to make sure that we are open and transparent as humanly possible," said Peach.

The board had voted in December 2012 to close the two schools.

Parents prepared court challenge

However, a group of parents at Whitbourne Elementary were slated to challenge the closure in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court on Thursday on the grounds that the board had not followed the proper consultation process as outlined in the provincial Schools Act.

More than 30 parents from Whitbourne and Heart's Delight-Islington applauded when the result of the vote was announced.

Tony Young,a member of the Save Whitbourne School Committee, said he was baffled by the board's plan to close his children's school in the first place.

"Our enrollment is increasing, and our community is growing," said Young. "So we're a little bit confused by this whole decision."

But Peach said trustees never acted out of turn.

"What we had done before was the way we have always followed the consultation process and the closure process," said Peach.

Former school superintendant 'flabbergasted'

However, Bill Lee, who used to be the superintendent of the former Avalon Consolidated School Board, said after Monday's meeting that he was "flabbergasted and astonished" by the board's decision on the two schools.

"There was no explanation whatsoever by the chairman of the board why there was a rescinding of a motion and why a new motion had to be put forward," said Lee. "In my opinion, [it was] unbelievable."

Lee is also the spokesperson for the Retired School Board CEO Action Group, a group which has been voicing opposition to the province's plan to collapse the province's four English-language school boards into one without proper consultation.

Lee said the way the Eastern School District handled the closure of the two schools was, to him, similar to the way that the provincial government decided to combine school boards.

He speculated that the Eastern School District has realized it has not followed proper legal procedure in its plan to close the two schools, and that would be the board's reason for starting another consultation process.

"Why aren't they being upfront with the public?" said Lee.

"In my opinion, I think this school board is going to go through the motions and these schools will be closed."

Peach said the public consultation process on whether to close Whitbourne Elementary and Epiphany Elementary will continue until June 24.