THE FIGHT to save St Mary’s High School Brollagh from closure is not over, those behind the campaign have vowed.
Last week local MLA Jemma Dolan and MP Michelle Gildernew met with Education Minister Peter Weir to impress on him the vital need to keep the school open for the sake of the local community.
“We forthrightly put the case forward for Brollagh School and the need for post-primary education in this part of west Fermanagh,” said Ms Dolan.
“I fear our words and the views of the local community have once again fallen on deaf ears. I thank Peter Weir for meeting with us and I would ask that he thinks on our discussion and reverses his unjust decision.
“This is not the end of the fight and we will not be giving up,” said the former pupil, adding she was to meet with the CCMS next week and “will on
Ms Dolan’s vow to keep fighting was in keeping with that made by parents of pupils at the school last week.
Speaking on Ocean FM, as the school also took in students from Leitrim and Donegal, Francis Maguire from the St Mary’s Parents Action Group said the school had been the hub for the local community for 55 years.
“Over the past 15 to 20 odd years the CCMS has had a prolonged attack on the school, attempting to close the school on four different occasions,” he said.
“Through those yeas the timing of the closures always coincided with decision time for primary school parents, when choosing post primary schools and it was seen almost as a tactic to try to sow doubt into the local community. Parents obviously seen the uncertainty around the school and chose to send their child elsewhere.”
Mr Maguire said parents had been fighting for 15 to 20 years and were outraged at the timing of last week’s announcement, coming both in the midst of the pandemic and when parents of P7 pupils were currently applying for a second-level place for their children.
“We’re shell-shocked by this announcement, that it has landed in the middle of lockdown,” he said.
“We’re currently seeking legal advice on the matter to see if we have the grounds to launch a judicial review and legally challenge this.”
Cllr Adam Gannon, who is himself a secondary school teacher, said parents and the wider community had been devastated by the decision.
“I know as a teacher pupils mental health is facing a extreme challenges at the minute and this really shows Peter Weir has no regard for pupil’s mental health, at this terrible time to make this decision,” he said.
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