First day of school, possibly the last one at Whitbourne Elementary

Thursday was the first day of school for students at Whitbourne Elementary, and if a group in the community gets its way, it won't be the last one.

Posing for pictures as they get off the bus, the student's focus now turns from summer funto school work, and theHelpWhitbourneElementary group turns its focus to keeping the school open.

Whitbourne mayorHilda Whelanwasone of the people at the school to greet children on the first day of school.

"I am very, very happy. It's as it should be," Whelan told CBC News.

"This school this morning has 90 children, not 70 as the school board says."

Whelansaid the community is growing and it needs a school.

"We have a 500 house start development, several developments, and we hope to attract younger families with children and they will stop to think if the situation is that there is no school."

It's been a roller coaster ride for parents, guardiansand the town as the school wasslated to close, forcing the children to be bused to Woodland Academy in Dildo.

The Help Whitbourne Elementary group felt it wasn't right and took thefight to court, wherea judge agreed.

The joy inWhitbournedidn't last long as word came from theNewfoundland and Labrador English School District that it had tabled a motion to close the school in June of 2017.

• Vote to close Whitbourne Elementary quashed by judge
• Whitbourne Elementary closure saga continues with public meeting in St. John's

"This school is the heart of our community," Whalen said.

"We definitely have an increase in enrolment and the fact that the government and the school board hasn't spentthe money it should have in the last 40 years, they should be ashamed that our school is in such a dilapidated state."

The Help Whitbourne Elementary group, headed up by Wade Smith, isn't going to let the school close without a fight.

Smith said he's invited the trustees, and the chair of the Newfoundland and LabradorEnglish School District Milton Peach, to come and see the school.

"We feel that if you are going to make a decision of closing a school in a viable community with an increased enrolment I think you should have all the information and not just what somebody hands you on a piece of paper."

The grouphas one last chance to sway the board ata public consultation at the school on Sept.19.

"We are going over the documents that they gave us and some new ones that we didn't know anything about," Smith said.

"We are going to stay the course."

According to the NL English School District website, the motion to close the school will be voted on in St. John's on Sept.20at 7:00p.m.