COBDEN — In less than a week’s time, the decision about Westmeath Public School will be voted on by the trustees at the Renfrew County District School Board.
In a final plea to save the school from closure, Whitewater Region council was one of 10 presentations made during a special meeting of the board at its Pembroke office.
The trustees vote Tuesday, May 31, at their regularly scheduled board meeting, whether Westmeath Public School will close at the end of this school year or remain open.
During last week’s council meeting, Councillor Chris Olmstead said Trustee Dave Shields, who is also chairman of the board and the local trustee, spoke a few days after the meeting. Mr. Shields told him a difficult decision will be made on Tuesday, May 31.
“He told me the entire board was very moved by the 10 presentations the other night,” Coun. Omstead said. “They did meet after and they agree they have a very tough decision to make.”
While it has mostly been a financial consideration, the emotional and economic impact it will have on the residents of the village must also be taken into consideration, he said.
Coun. Olmstead said, “I’ve been assured they are trying to uncover every rock, overturn every stone to figure it out. It’s going to be a tough decision either way.”
Mayor Hal Johnson said he hopes the trustees seriously look at postponing the closure for at least five years, which is what council asked the board to do in its presentation.
“It would give us a chance to come up with some further answers to help them out,” he said. “As we said, it’s an end destination point. It’s not a highway going through to somewhere else and then coming back.”
