WESTMEATH — The Westmeath Public School’s Save our School Committee held a town hall meeting on March 22nd, in order to provide parents of both current and past students, local business owners, as well as other community stakeholders with an update on their progress.
More than 70 people turned out for this event; illustrating just how important WPS is to this community.
Surveys were distributed as part of the evening to gather feedback which will be used to guide the committee in a direction, supported not only the parents, but also by residents of the Westmeath Community.
When asked the question, “Do you support the closing of Westmeath Public School?”, “no”, was the unanimous response. The committee also asked the question, “Do you feel that Westmeath Public School fosters a sense of belonging and responsibility to support our community?”. As expected, the majority of respondents agree that the school fosters a sense of belonging and responsibility to support the Westmeath community.
Another area addressed in the survey was the impact on busing schedules should WPS close. In particular the amount of time the average student would be on a bus to and from school each day. The majority of those surveyed indicated the maximum acceptable amount of time for a student to ride the bus should be 30 minutes. According to the Renfrew County Joint Transportation Consortium Policies, students in grades Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6 shall not exceed 60 minutes on a bus. Currently, the RCJTC indicates the longest bus ride for a WPS student is 58 minutes. The School Board has indicated in its Accommodation Review that the average bus ride will increase 20 minutes per day for students attending Beachburg Public School, should WPS close. This means potentially students as young as three years old could be travelling on a bus for over 60 minutes to and 60 minutes from school each day.
Finally, parents of WPS students were asked if the Board decides to close the school, where do you intend to register your child(ren) for September 2016. Only 40 percent of the responses indicated Beachburg Public School, while 60 percent indicated Our Lady of Grace Catholic School in Westmeath, Home School or other (i.e. a school in Pembroke).
One note is the Save our School Committee is looking into is the viability of both the Public and Separate Schools sharing a building Westmeath. Everyone in attendance felt this would be an option they would like both the RCDSB and RCCDSB to fully investigate.
The committee would like to remind everyone of the Public Meeting hosted by the School Board on Thursday, April 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the Westmeath Hall. Everyone is welcome to attend and the general public will have the opportunity to provide input or comments on the Accommodation Review and Initial Staff Report, which can be found on the RCDSB website (http://www.rcdsb.on.ca/en/schools/resources/Initial_Staff_Report_1.pdf) (Westmeath Public School Report begins on page 13), as well as the WPS Save Our School Facebook Page.
