‘Ballistic’ pushback at two-school plan predicted
PUBLIC pushback against the alternative model will be ‘massive’, former Education vice-president Carl Meerveld has predicted.
In a speech that lasted almost an hour, Deputy Meerveld called on States members to reject the model, which he said the public did not want.
‘My prediction is that the general public are going to be up in arms if the two-school model is supported,’ he said. ‘The first massive kickback will come next week when the public wake up, read the Press, turn on the radio, and say “What?!”, because I don’t think the public want two big schools under any terms.
‘The next pushback will come in three or four months’ time when the new committee, which I suspect it will be, will announce which schools are going to close. You will then have a significant number of people getting very exercised about the fact that their schools are going to be closed and that those teachers are being displaced.
‘The final pushback, which I think will be ballistic, will be when these proposals comes back to the States, which I predict will be in at least 18 months’ time.
‘When they come back with a higher price tag there will a huge pushback. If you can get 336 people marching on Delancey Park because a few extra houses are going to be put on Pointues Rocques, imagine what they are going to do when you tell them there are going to be 1,450 children at St Sampson’s.’
Full story in Saturday's Guernsey Press
