Mulgrave Memorial Education Centre may close if recommendation approved

If the only school left in the town of Mulgrave, N.S. closes, the mayor fears the town will wither away. 

At a public meeting on Monday, Mayor Lorne MacDonald learned Mulgrave Memorial Education Centre is being recommended to close by a school options committee tasked with deciding the future of three local-area schools.

The committee must make the recommendation to the Strait Regional School Board. But MacDonald is trying not to look at the writing on the wall. 

"The decision hasn't really been made, right?" he said.

"The people at the meeting gave some suggestions that they should try to keep it open another year. So I'm hoping they'll take the information and work with that." 

More time

The committee had to recommend the closure of either Mulgrave Memorial, Tamarac Education Centre or the Strait Area Education Centre. 

All three schools have experienced a decline in the number of attending students. 

MacDonald wants that extra year. He says there were attendees at Monday night's meeting who've just moved back from Alberta, MacDonald said. 

Upcoming liquid natural gas projects in the surrounding area, such as Bear Head LNG, may also bring new families to town. 

"It sounds like there are going to be more people coming home and I was surprised there were people in the audience who did move home."

'Another nail'

Mulgrave has been hit by several closures over the years. A primary to 12 school closed a few years ago, MacDonald says, as well as the town's only bank.

If the school does close, some ideas circulated at the meeting included using it as a surplus space, an adult education centre, or to relocate the school board offices there.

"The school may be another nail on it, saying there's nothing happening in Mulgrave," MacDonald said.

Another public meeting is scheduled for Feb. 16. The school options committee will then formally make their recommendation to the Strait school board.