The fight goes on
THEY may have lost the first battle but for St Sampson's Infants' PTA the war is far from over. With just a 10-week window remaining, several parents have agreed to regroup and fight on to save their local school from closure.
THEY may have lost the first battle but for St Sampson's Infants' PTA the war is far from over. With just a 10-week window remaining, several parents have agreed to regroup and fight on to save their local school from closure.
But clearly the odds are stacked against them. Education's proposal to shut the Rue des Monts building - which houses three infants' classes including Reception - was a massive blow to their hopes.
The closure announcement in September, which also saw St Andrew's school narrowly escape the axe, was - while not totally unexpected - certainly a shock for the scores of families affected.
Families such as that of the PTA's new deputy-chairman, Belinda Davis whose letter we run on our Opinion page today.
The busy mum may end up having to ferry two young children between two different sites if the move is rubber-stamped by the States in the new year
But, as she points out, the decision will also have far wider implications than siblings being taught in separate schools or increased traffic journeys.
There is, she claims, something even more at stake - a key part of the community.
The little school on the edge of Delancey Park, has been around for a century and is, campaigners say, an integral part of the area.
Parents and grandparents have been pupils there and it continues to play a community role today through strong links with the church and surrounding parish.
Of course in all such unwelcome decisions there will always be winners and losers.
Education's announcement was a difficult one for the committee and followed a review which pointed to the school's £250,000 running costs and declining pupil numbers.
Yet whether these reasons are justified or not, parents, who have launched an online petition and plan to continue to lobby deputies, have every right to fight on.
For observers, what will be interesting to see is the full report that goes to the States in January, outlining the reasons for the recommendations in more detail.
It will also be interesting to see, as some parents have already pointed out, whether all States members feel they have been given enough time to make such an important decision for the community.
