Parents, teachers and members of the community attended the public meeting in the gym at Centre Hastings Secondary School. Photo by Mallory Day, QNet News
By Mallory Day [1]
MADOC – Emotions ran high at a public meeting organized by the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board [2] about a possible school closure and shifting students between schools
The crowd at the Madoc area schools public meeting. #QNetNews [3] pic.twitter.com/ttXS6HDjWV [4]
— Mallory Day (@mallory_day) January 18, 2017 [5]
Several angry and frustrated parents and teachers gathered at Centre Hastings Secondary School [6] to express their opinions and concerns about the possible closure of Madoc Township Public School [7] and relocation of its students to Madoc Public School [8] this September. The board is also proposing to move students in Grade 7 and 8 from Madoc Public School to Centre Hastings Secondary.
Centre Hastings Mayor Tom Deline was there and said he wasn’t impressed with the proposal from the board.
“Taking out a public school is like taking out a part of the community,” said Deline.
Emma Stock, a parent of a Grade 7 student, said her son has autism and she’s concerned how he’ll deal with moving to the high school.
“I have a son in the autism program at Madoc Public School,” said Stock. “He is supposed to have had a full other year to transition over to the high school.”
She added: “I want to know what kind of programs will be available in the high school for him and other students like him. I want to know what that’s going to look like.”
According to the school board, Centre Hastings Secondary School has a capacity of 1,026 and currently has 553 students enrolled, Madoc Public School has a capacity of 392 with 362 enrolled, and Madoc Township has a capacity of 161 students and has 101 enrolled.