News / Voe parents speak up for their school
THE PARENTS of a small Shetland primary school under threat of closure have called on the local authority to postpone any decision until an islands wide strategy for education has been drawn up.
A consultation timetable that could lead to the closure of the Olnafirth primary school is due to be discussed at Shetland Islands Council’s education committee meeting on 29 August.
The decision to consider the 25 pupil school for closure was made by the previous council in June 2010, but the process was halted in July 2011 when Scottish education secretary Mike Russell announced a major review of education provision.
The Commission on Rural Education took evidence in Shetland March this year. Its final report was initially due to be published during the summer but is now expected only in early 2013.
The Olnafirth parent council has now written to councillors and MSPs in Shetland urging them to give assurances that no decision on the future of their school will be taken until a “until a clear policy for education provision in Shetland had been developed.”
They said: “We are not unreasonable and would be willing to discuss a properly considered proposal.
“For this to be the case we feel that any consultation must wait until the Commission for Rural Education has delivered its findings, and we must be considered as part of the bigger picture with respect to education provision within Shetland.
“Anything else would appear to be merely paying lip service to the idea of developing a consistent strategy and jumping to the answer the council has already decided upon.”
Chair of the education and families committee, Vaila Wishart, said Olnafirth was the final school to go through the process as part of the original Blueprint for Education, approved two years ago.
“At the budget meeting in February 2012 the council made a decision to ‘assess’ closing Olnafirth school.
“The £3million which councillors decided had to be found from a refresh of the council’s Blueprint for Education was a separate item in the savings proposals agreed by the council at that meeting.
“The decisions taken by council to carry out statutory consultation on Olnafirth and receive a report in Aug 2012 outlining the timetable for the consultation exercise remain and require to be acted upon,” she said.
The parents’ open letter can be found here.
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