Some parents on the Burin Peninsula are not happy with proposed changes to the school system in Marystown and Burin.
Sacred Heart Academy and Jamieson Academy in Marystown will be reduced in the number of grades at the schools, while Pierce Junior High in Burin would close with the students being moved to Marystown Central High School.
Melinda Flanagan of Marystown, who has a child at Sacred Heart, says a lot of children will needlessly be spending a lot more time on buses. Her son will have to travel to Burin next year for grades 5-7 while all the small children who go to Burin and are from that area will not have to go further to Marystown.
A final decision will be made during public meetings on March 28th, 2020.
Meanwhile Education critic Craig Pardy wants to know why the system reviews are happening at all.
The School Board passed a resolution in June 2018 to postpone any further school reviews pending the department’s review of “The Schools Act,” which started over a year ago.
Pardy questions if Education Minister Brian Warr is in the loop regarding these potential school closures and the rationales behind them – and if it is in fact government which is driving the potential closures.
The NLESD says no decisions on have yet been made, and this is simply a review.
Pardy is calling on Warr to re-evaluate the current school review process. He says government should do its homework and present all the schooling options available to the parents affected and fully engage them.
