SAVE CORRIE SCHOOL

Text Box: LATEST NEWS Text Box: Councillors urged to ignore party politics in Corrie School decision By Nick Underdown Friday, 18 April 2008 Next Tuesday the Education Executive of North Ayrshire Council will meet to decide the fate of Corrie School and local campaigners are keeping their fingers crossed that the proposed amalgamation of the school will be overturned. During the past few months, parents and people throughout Arran have campaigned vigorously to expose the short-sightedness of closing the primary school. They argue that the projection figures on which the school estate review is based are flawed. They also point out that probable housing developments in both Corrie and Brodick make the school an essential part of education provision on the island and its community life. A chance to speak Three representatives from the Corrie PS parents’ council will have an opportunity to give a presentation at the Education Executive meeting next Tuesday. ‘We’ve pushed really hard for this. They don’t normally let people speak at this sort of meeting,’ said Donna Gold, a member of the parent council for Corrie PS. Donna, Nici Boni and Dan Goronway will all deliver a short presentation at 10.30am outlining the case for retaining the school. No 'party politics' Due to the exceptional nature of the meeting and its high profile media coverage, the meeting will be open to all council members to attend. ‘We hope to convince a lot of people, especially Labour councillors,’ said Donna. She has urged councillors to consider the Council recommendation on its merits and vote on the basis of the facts presented. ‘We very much hope that they will put party politics aside and that they will realise the community value and keep the school,’ added Donna. Ardrossan and Arran councillor Tony Gurney has worked over the past few months to build a coalition of Council representatives to oppose the closure, but it remains to be seen how the 30-strong Council will vote. The Council is comprised of 12 Labour councillors, 8 SNP councillors, 5 conservatives, 3 independents and 2 Liberal Democrats. Crucial vote After the initial recommendation of the Education Executive, the whole Council will then meet to discuss the recommendation on the 29th of April. Normally, the finding of the Education Executive would require to be ‘called in’ by three members, but a decision was made to bypass this procedure. ‘We know that disagreement was likely to happen and it seemed reasonable to do this, rather than go through all the machinations and drag out the process,’ Tony Gurney told The Arran Voice earlier this week. If the Council proposes to amalgamate Corrie PS with its counterpart in Brodick, then the decision would be referred to the Scottish Ministers as Corrie school is more than 5 miles from the closest alternative primary. As Minister for Education, Fiona Hyslop has rejected all three proposed school closures which have been sent to her for Ministerial approval in the past year, in line with a SNP policy to create a legislative presumption against school closures in rural areas. Kenneth Gibson MSP has also reiterated his support for the Corrie School. He said that the closure of the school would be unlikely to save money. ‘There’s a £200,000 nursery that would need to be relocated. How’s that going to save money?’ he asked. Speaking earlier this week, he added: ‘I think that Corrie School will be saved and I would hope that the Council will be sensible about it.’

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