Court spares Whitbourne Elementary, but yearlong fight leaves bad blood

What began as a grim final day of the 2016-17 academic year at Whitbourne Elementary, with people making plans to pack up the entire building's contents, turned into an A-plus day, thanks to a court decision sparingthe school from closing.

"We are beyond words of how happy and relieved we are that this decision came down," says PattiKennedy, chairperson of theWhitbourneElementary School Council.

"We are of the understanding that, with this court decision,Whitbournewill be open for business in September."

• Whitbourne parents file another appeal to keep school open
• School council says slated Whitbourne Elementary closure marks 'beginning of another round'
• Vote to close Whitbourne Elementary quashed by judge

On Friday, the Newfoundland and LabradorCourt of Appeal ruled that the N.L. English School District Board "did not have the authority to order the closure" of the school, in part because it was made up of appointed, and not elected, trustees.

The ruling brings to an end at least for a now a saga that began over a year ago, with multiple motions to close the school, heated public meetings, a grassroots campaign to save the school and a previous legal fight within the lower courts.

Parents blast 'undue stress, indignities'

While Kennedy is thrilled with Friday's decision, she doesn't mince words about the "constant chase" she's felt from the board to close the school.

"The undue stress, the indignities suffered by, not only by the children of Whitbourne and Markland, but by the children of all the communities involved ... there are no words to describe the impact this has had on families, friends, on the teachers," said Kennedy.

"It was like a poisonous vine that continued to creep throughout these communities, tying us all together for all the wrong reasons."

But Goronwy Price, chair of the board of trustees for the N.L. English School District, insists the move to close the school was not personal.

"I can assure you, from my seat, I see no vindictiveness," he told CBC News Friday afternoon.

"It is a process that, unfortunately, places passion at a community level against trying to make a legitimate decision on a larger scope of schools."

Price said the board has to respect the court decision, although he admitted to being "a little surprised."

"We follow a process and the process that we follow has not been questioned," he said.

The ruling doesn't guarantee Whitbourne Elementary will escape future reviews or even closures, Price cautioned.

"Now the board of trustees has to take this information and determine if they want to include this particular school or the catchment area of this particular school in the reviews we are scheduling for next year," he said, adding that decision will be made in the coming weeks.

But for now, as students begin their summer break, the focus is on the fall, according to Price.

"We're doing everything we can as a district, and our staff are, to ready Whitbourne Elementary for school opening in September," he said.

Kennedy too appears to want to let bygones by bygones for now.

"Now that the decision is released we feel a whole lot lighter," she said.

"We look forward to ... [ensuring] all of our children and their parents and their school community are treated fairly with open two-way dialogue in a process that's transparent and of course that meets the need of children first and not the government first."