Protesters rally against school closures outside state of the province address

About 50 protesters upset about proposed school closures gathered in Charlottetown Monday night outside the premier's state of the province address.

Protesters from the host communities ofBelfast Consolidated, Georgetown Elementary and St. Jean Elementary schools stood in the cold outside the Delta Prince Edward Hotel, where Premier Wade MacLauchlanwas scheduled to give his speech.

The crowdchanted "Save our schools" and carried signs bearing messages like "Our School Our Town Our Future." Some of those signs were recycled from eight years agowhen Georgetown successfully resisted another proposedclosure, CBC's Kerry Campbell reported from the protest.

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The schools are three of the five that the P.E.I. Public Schools Branch has recommended closing. Parents and community members across the province are vowing to fight the proposed closuresduring the 60-day public consultation period, worried that closing the schools willnegatively impacttheir communities.

Education Minister Doug Currie hassaidthe proposed changes which also include rezoning will get overcrowded schools back to optimal levels andunderused schools closer to optimal, all while improvingclass composition and expanding extracurricular activities.

The premier was expected to touch on education in his speech, which is about the P.E.I. economic blueprint the Liberals havedubbed "The Mighty Island."

"One of the reasons they came here is they heard the premier was going to be talking about the importance of education," Campbell said.

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