 Parents claim Eassie primary is the heart of the community |
Parents in an Angus village are preparing to fight to save their local primary school, for the second time in just three years. Eassie Primary could be closed and merged with Newtyle under new proposals by the council, which claims it is run-down. The community successfully campaigned to keep the school open fewer than three years ago. A meeting of residents is being held to draw up a "plan of action". That could include debates, protests or even legal action. Angus Council claims Eassie Primary is run-down, the school roll is falling and PE provision is lacking. However parents believe the council is exaggerating the state of the building and point to the most recent report by school inspectors, published in 2005, which stated the quality of accommodation was good. Gavin Durston, the chairman if the Eassie Primary Parent Council, told the BBC Scotland news website that children at the school do more PE than the average for Angus and across Scotland. He admitted that the school roll had fallen - but blamed the uncertainty caused by previous closure plans. He said: "The education department should be taking the long view over generations and not on a yearly basis. "In the local catchment I can think of 10 or 11 new builds, houses being done up, plots for sale. "So this is a very strong community and it's growing." Mr Durston, who has two daughters at the school, claimed the current roll of 14 pupils was due to rise to 18 or 19 in the next term. Councillors on the education committee will decide on Thursday whether to launch a consultation on merger plans. Mr Durston said: "The school is a central focus for the community, it's where people meet, connections are made, and without that the whole community tends to break up. "It would potentially be the death-knell of our community." The residents' meeting is being held at 2000 BST on Monday at Eassie Primary.
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It would potentially be the death-knell of our community
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