Community Council Support Eassie Parents
Newtyle and Eassie Community Council last night agreed to ask Angus Council to keep Eassie Primary School open and pledged full support to the parents in their campaign to save the threatened school. At a recent Council meeting councillors voted by a narrow margin to start the 28 day consultation period which could lead to the closure of this rural school.
The members heard a representative from the Parents’ Council of Eassie School outline their case.
Bruce Patullo explained how the report produced by the Education department, and upon which Councillors had made their decision to consult on possible closure of the school, seemed to be written about a completely different school. Amongst the apparent errors were that the school building is rated a poor C when in fact it is rated a quite good B, that the school roll is falling when actually it is rising, and that educating children at Eassie is expensive when it would actually cost Angus council £250,000 each year if the school were close.
“We believe we can prove that Eassie Primary School is a vital part of our community and of the wider Angus Community. It is a centre of excellence praised by Inspectors, parents and children so it must be doing something right. Rather than being closed Eassie should be used as an example of how a primary school should be run.”
Commenting on the unanimous decision Community Council Chairman, Michael Ryan, stated,
“There are so many complaints across the country about the standard of schooling our children receive that it seems ludicrous that Angus Education Department would seek to destroy one of the schools which is getting it right and for reasons which they have yet to make clear. It seems arbitrary
We also find it disturbing that the report submitted by the Director of Education does not seem to accurately describe the school which the community knows. When making decisions Councillors rely heavily on having accurate information from the professional officers. In this case it looks like some serious questions need to be asked about aspects of this report."
