Parents favour closing schools in Souris area

P.E.I.'s Eastern School District is considering a recommendation to close five schools in the Souris area, in the northeastern part of the Island, and you won't hear any protests from parents, because they're the ones who suggested it.

They want the five schools replaced with one large state-of-the-art school.

They presented their proposal to the school board at Rollo Bay Consolidated School, near Souris, Wednesday night.

About 25parents showed up to the monthly school board meeting to convince trustees to close the area schools and build a kindergarten-to-Grade 12 school.

"I think they all realize that this [would be] best for the kids. We all wish we could maintain our five schools, but the numbers don't allow us to do that. So I think that we know that today in the current reality this is where we have to go," said Teri Hall, chair of the parents group.

Souris-Elmira MLA Allan Campbell, the fisheries and aquaculture minister in Premier Robert Ghiz's new cabinet, has one child about to enter the school system.

He said the schools issue is the top priority in his district.

"I think probably this will be very closely watched across the province, and I guess we're liable to see the same kind of thing down the road in other parts of the province," Campbell said."We have a chance to take the lead here and be in the spotlight,so I look forward to that."

The school board gave the parents a standing ovation, but decided to study the report before making any decision.

The Eastern School District is the largest school district on Prince Edward Island, covering the area from Crapaud to East Point. It consists of 43 schools across the central and eastern part of the Island, serving approximately 14,000 students.