Riverside Consolidated School to stay open

Anglophone School District East's education council voted unanimously Tuesday night to keep Riverside Consolidated School open.

About 120 people from the Riverside-Albert area attended the council meeting at Bernice MacNaughton High School in Moncton. The residents stood and applauded after the unanimous vote.

Dan Sinclair with the Parent School Support Committee said it was a huge relief. 

"This is amazing news. It's amazing news for me as a parent, but it's also amazing news for our region," he said. "We were on the edge of our seats for two months, but finally hearing it, we are ecstatic," he said.

Parents had campaigned to keep the K-5 school open, saying elementary students are too young to be taking the 30 kilometre bus ride to Hillsborough Elementary. Riverside Consolidated currently has 56 students.

Earlier this month, parents hosted a bus tour demonstration of the route, to show council members how long the journey takes with student pick-ups. In total, it took 90 minutes, one-way.

Members of the committee said that event influenced their vote.

"I'm going to tell you, here, from my heart, it's too long to put four-year-old kids on a bus with 19-year-old kids," said council member and former Liberal MLA Harry Doyle. "It's just too darn long."

Council members did tell residents that the school will be triggered for a sustainability study again in the next two years, and that they need to find ways to better utilize the school and its rooms.

Four other New Brunswick schools have already failed sustainability assessments.

Coles Island, Pennfield Elementary, Lorne Middle School and Bath Elementary will close this spring unless the minister of education overturns the decision of the respective district education councils. 

The education council for Anglophone School District South will vote Wednesday night on the fate of Brown's Flat Elementary and Norton Elementary.