School closure court battle no surprise, says law expert

A University of Moncton law professor says he is not surprised the provincial government plans to appeal a judge's recent ruling quashing the education minister's decision to close two Saint John-area schools.

Michel Doucet says Education Minister Serge Rousselle had to send the issue to the province's top court and seek a stay of the judge's order if the government wasn't going to reopen Brown's Flat Elementary and Lorne Middle schools.

"I guess they were caught in kind of a bind," he told CBC's Information Morning Fredericton on Thursday.

"Even though the judge did not order the department to reopen the schools, I guess, in the state of rule of law, they wouldn't have any other choice but to respect the decision of the court and open up the schools."

Doucet said it's unfortunate that parents and students are caught in the "crossfire," but contends such a legal dispute was just a matter of time.

"We knew from way back that there was some problems with the application of policy 409 … and it's not only with this government," he said, noting the policy, designed to give communities input school closures, has been in place since the 1990s.

There's been flaws with that policy since it was adopted.- Michel Doucet, law professor

"So there's been flaws with that policy since it was adopted."

Doucet said education councils have basically been left on their own to interpret the policy and in some cases, the minister has overruled their decisions.

Their respective powers should have been clarified sooner and last week's court decision has finally forced the matter, he said.

"We need to know exactly what the procedure is and we need to make sure the same procedure is followed everywhere in New Brunswick," he said.

In the case of Brown's Flat and Lorne Middle schools, the district education council had recommended closure, which the education minister accepted.

Last Friday, however, Justice Darrell Stephenson, of the Court of Queen's Bench, quashed the education minister's decision, saying the process that led to the decision was flawed.

But because the judge didn't explicitly order the schools open, Anglophone South School District announced on Tuesday it would push ahead with plans to relocate the students.

Zoë Watson, the district superintendent, said it would be "impossible" to have the schools operational on such short notice, with students, teachers and bus routes already shifted.

Kelly Lamrock, who is representing parents of students from the schools, is seeking a court order quashing the school district's plans to proceed despite the judge's ruling. He also filed an injunction to stop actions to close the schools.

The case is scheduled to be heard in Saint John on Friday.

Parents in Coles Island have also vowed to fight to have the school there reopen next week.