Students weep, parents vow to fight school closures

Some students at an elementary school in western P.E.I. were reeling Wednesday from the news that their school might be forced to close. 

Claire Ashley, a Grade 6 student at St. Louis Elementary, couldn't hold back tears as she talked about her reaction to the recommendations in a report released Tuesday by the Public Schools Branch.

"I was very sad," she said, sobbing. "I love the staff there, they're so great to me and they're nice."

Heidi Butler Perry says her eight-year-old son, who also attends St. Louis, also fought back tears when he went to bed Tuesday night.

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St. Louis Elementary and Bloomfield Elementary are two of the five schools recommended for closure in the report. 

Residents of the western P.E.I. communities say their schools are like family and they'll do everything they can to keep from losing them.

"If there's anything we can do as parents we're going to do it to fight to keep our schools open," said Butler Perry.

She said her son was "really upset" and worried about about what would happen to him and his teachers if the school closed.

"He went to bed and he asked me to lay with him and he was near in tears. It was sad, that [at] eight years old he had to go to bed feeling just not sure what was going to happen."

The report recommends students at St. Louis be bused to Tignish, while some students at Bloomfield go to Alberton and others to O'Leary.

Juanita Gallant says her six-year-old granddaughter, who attends St. Louis, spends enough time already on a bus without having to travel to Tignish every day. Gallant said the child gets on the bus at 7:50 a.m. and doesn't get home until almost 4 p.m.

"That's a long enough day, especially for a kindergarten child."

All three of Laverne Gallant's kids went to St. Louis and she has a granddaughter who would be going the school.

"It's like a school that's home," said Laverne Gallant, a clerk at F.J. Shea and Son Ltd. General Store. "Our kids were well looked after. If it's gone, it's going to be a big hole in this area."

In the nearby community of Bloomfield, the president of the local home and school federation said they won't let the school close without a fight.

"We're all disappointed, but we know that it is just a recommendation at this point," said Katie MacLennan.

Bloomfield is a "family-oriented, close knit school," she said and splitting the students up in Alberton and O'Leary would be detrimental.

"When you're entering school at the age of four and half, five years, those friends mean a lot and it's important that they keep those friends," she said.

Gwen Clements said the school has always been — and continues to be — a big part of people's lives in the community.

"Bloomfield is building and the reason why some people are moving to the area is because of the school," she said.

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