Whitbourne Elementary parents push for new board prior to closure vote

In the ongoing fight to keep Whitbourne Elementary open, parents of students say they're prepared to take the English School District back to court to againchallenge the authority of its unelected school board.

• Whitbourne Elementary closure saga continues with public meeting in St. John's
• Whitbourne Elementary closure battle not over yet, parents vow to keep fighting

On July 29, a judge agreed that parents weren't properly briefed on the board's plan to close Whitbourne Elementary and begin busing students to Woodland Elementary in Dildo in September.

But in an email sent to parents last Monday, the Board of Trustees said it will pushahead with plans to close the school in June of 2017.

In a statement released Tuesday night, a group calling itself the Help Whitbourne Elementary Committee said it's concerned the board is trying to rush a ruling on the school closure before a new board can be electedinlateNovember.

"We are very disappointed that the board has restarted the school closure process and will vote on it before trustee elections take place," parent Rudy Mercer said in the release.

"Parents again have to look to the courts for help to save our school."

The group argues that "the current unelected trustees have no authority to make a decision to close the school," considering a new board will be elected two months later.

Committee chair Wade Smith said he doesn't think the trustees represent the interests of parents and children in local zones.

I'd probably be outraged.- Education Minister Dale Kirby

"Trustees appointed by the government three years ago are still making decisions that have devastating effects on families in rural communities," he said.

The parents are being represented by lawyer Dan Simmons.

'It's not up to me': education minister

In an interview on The St. John's Morning Show Wednesday, Education Minister Dale Kirby said the board of trusteeshas a legal right to push for a closure, and he isn't going to micro-manage them.

When asked whether he thought it was fair that an unelected board could push to close a school, Kirby said the issue was out of his hands.

"Well, it's not up to me. Justice Valerie Marshall in Supreme Court a few weeks ago was pretty clear that the trustees who are governing the English School District right now have discretion to make those decisions," he said.

When pushed for his opinion, Kirby did express sympathy for the parents involved.

"I'd probably be outraged," he said.

"I absolutely understand where [the parents] are coming from These are heart-wrenching decisions that have impacts on communities, I completely understand that.

"[But] I'm not going to overturn decisions of this appointed board which I didn't have any role in appointing or the one that the people of Newfoundland and Labrador are going to elect on November 22."