Report by : Fiona MacGregor and Gareth Edwards
Link to The Evening News's original article.
FURIOUS parents protesting at the proposed closure of five rural primary schools say their children
are being treated like rubbish.
And they are dressing them in black bin bags today to illustrate the point to First Minister Jack McConnell.
Howgate Primary, along with Temple, Borthwick, Cousland and Cranston primaries will shut this summer
if Midlothian Council plans get the go-ahead following a month-long public consultation.
The closures are part of the council's plans to "rationalise" school stock across the county by shutting
the small rural primaries and merging them with others to form larger schools with better facilities under
a £50 million private finance deal.
But parent Jan Steel, whose children Amy, eight, and William, seven, attend Howgate Primary, said parents
had been left "disgusted" by the plans.
"Our children benefit from going to a smaller school, so to be told that they are going to a bigger school
with a record of underachievement just isn't on," she said.
She was set to be among parents and children heading to the First Minister's official residence, Bute House,
today to ask Mr McConnell to visit Howgate to see the high standards of education there. Tracey Musgrove Bird,
secretary of the Howgate PTA, said the council had no justification for the closures.
"Howgate Primary School is a centre of excellence in an authority that consistently underperforms
educationally," she said.
"Midlothian Council wants to abandon these children and leave them on a building site for the next two years.
"There are no real educational reasons for the council to close Howgate Primary School and there is no
justification for throwing these children on the scrapheap."
Under Midlothian's proposals the primaries will close this summer, but work on replacement buildings is
not set for completion until 2006, forcing some children into temporary accommodation.
Campaigners also claim that the council report backing the need to close the schools is based on
out-of-date information.
Peter Smail, one of the organisers behind the Midlothian Rural Schools Action Group, said: "It is madness
to close schools which are so successful. Most people are horrified that their children are going to be taken
out of the school culture they know and put into a school of 400."
A petition is being raised by parents calling on the Scottish Parliament to step in and prevent the closures.
The campaign is being backed by James Douglas-Hamilton, Lothians MSP and Tory education spokesman.
He said: "The situation in Midlothian is deeply worrying. However, we have not yet given up hope. I find
the situation - now all too common - of a council being able to close a school against the wishes of parents,
pupils and teachers quite distasteful."Councillor Peter Boyes, Cabinet member for education and lifelong learning,
Midlothian, said the proposals put forward in the review of nursery and primary schools were aimed at providing a
quality learning environment to the maximum number of pupils, within available resources.
"Our aim is to ensure the best possible education for our children and for future generations," he said.
"The consultation process is now under way, with public meetings planned for the end of March. I would urge
everyone with an interest or comments to make to get involved in the consultations."
