School closure not the end of community, says author of 1996 schools report

The P.E.I. Public Schools Branch is on the right track with its plan to close more schools, says the author of a report that recommended school closures in 1996, and communities should not fear losing their schools.

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Jim MacAulay was the spokesman for the MacAulay-Coles report, which found in 1996 that the province had too many schools.

"We were simply trying to improve the educational opportunities for the students of Prince Edward Island," MacAulay told CBC's Island Morning Thursday.

"When we talk about programs, you cannot offer everybody a program in his own backyard. You need numbers to provide adequate programs."

MacAulay said the province's existing school infrastructure was built for a time when birth rates were double what they are now.

Communities can go on

The MacAulay-Coles report was shelved, and MacAulay now lives in St. Peters, where the school was closed in 2009 following another report on school infrastructure.

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He said the community is better for it.

"[If] you take a look at the institution that used to be St. Peters Consolidated, you will find that it is a business centre in this community," MacAulay said.

"It has given a bigger economic impact to this community today than it ever did when it was operated as a school."

He believes the community is happy both with the business centre and with the education their children are receiving, but he understands why people get upset when school closures are proposed.

"People do become attached to their schools," he said.

"They do become attached to the structures as they exist, and people generally resist change."

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