Community seeks 'dialogue' with Brannoxtown NS stakeholders
This follows a public meeting last night where they heard they have to 'be prepared for the school to close' at the end of the month.
There are just three pupils at the school since it reopened for the new educational year last week, and it requires eight pupils to be kept open as a one-teacher school.
The Single Manager appointed last week by the Archdiocese of Dublin, Gerry O'Donoghue, told the meeting that the situation would be reviewed by the patron and the Department of Education on 30 September, at which time they would make a decision on the viability of the school continuing.
He said he had written to some 40 parents of children who had been pupils at the school last year, or who had previously indicated they would be sending children this year, making a 'last appeal' for them to reconsider their withdrawing of their children from the school.
It was noted that of the twenty or so people who turned up at the meeting last night, only four represented that group.
There were at times robust comments made about the current management of the school, and Gerry O'Donoghue said that in discussions with the Principal, he had been assured that there would be changes made. But the general tone of the meeting was that the parents were no longer confident that real change would be made, that they had lost trust in the school, and that had been the reason for the moving of most pupils to other schools in the area.
Gerry O'Donoghue noted that when he was appointed last week, he was 'aghast' to find that there seemed to be no complaints procedure in the school. He said he could find no 'paper trail' to indicate that there had been any complaints. From the floor he was told that a number of official complaints had been lodged with the Archbishop last June, but nothing had hapened.
During a discussion on what options remained, Gerry O'Donoghue said that 'saving' the school required that enough chldren would be enroled.
Deputy Martin Heydon said he had attended a number of meetings to see if what was happening could be addressed, and that they had hoped to reach the 'magic' number of 17, but this had not worked out. He added that there was a need in the parish for three schools, and that if Brannoxtown did close, he would be 'very concerned' about the pressure which would ensue at Scoil Bhride in Kilcullen and in Halverstown.
Concurring, Gerry O'Donoghue said there are already 90 new pupils booked in for Scoil Bhride next September, and with just 75 leaving, that already means a shortfall of 15 places.
He outlined what would happen to staff at Brannoxtown should it actually close. They would be 'redeployed' on a panel, with the Principal retaining her allowance and becoming a 'privileged assistant' at another school, without a Principal's responsibilities.
He also noted that if the school did close, it would be very difficult to persuade the Archdiocese to reopen it next year. He said too that other options, such as getting in Educate Together, or the ETB, or a Gaelscoil would not be as easy as it might seem. "Doing that would be a very complex legal instrument," he noted, adding that both the departments of Education and Finance would question a community declaration that they needed a school when they had already let it close.
Local resident Conor O'Toole said the school was now a 'failed entity', and if it was a business the shareholders would have sacked the management. Jacinta Sully noted that when the recent Liaison Committee had canvassed families who had withdrawn their children they found a number who would have returned to the school if there was a new management.
The chair for the meeting, Anthony Carter, said there was likely nobody 'in or out of the room' who wanted the school to close. "There's angst and upset, but we have to ensure that the school stays open and is viable for the long term."
Gerry O'Donoghue said the 'community needs a school for it to be a viable community'. "Both for the tradition, and also for future children who are born in Brannockstown and will need a school," he said. "However, I have to strongly urge you to consider that the school won't be viable this year, and a committee should be formed to work towards reopening it in the future."
He noted that if the school closes and the patron 'divests' from it, the Department of Education will invite applications for other patrons. "One could conceivably be a committee of local people, but the school could also very easily go out of the community's control."
The new group set up to 'establish a dialogue with the stakeholders' — the Department of Education and the Archdiocese — comprises Anthony Carter, Conor O'Toole, Rosie Sheehan, Tracey O'Dwyer, Audrey Moore, Pat Kelly and Robert Mehigan.
They will contact the stakeholders to try and establish a dialogue. But Gerry O'Donoghue said it was quite likely that the Department and the patron would not engage until the 'critical' date of 30 September.
Cllr Rob Power also attended the meeting.
