Sandwick stands up to school closure

MORE than 50 parents turned out in Sandwick on Monday night to protest plans by Shetland Islands Council to close the local junior high school.

Councillors meet on Thursday to decide whether to consult on closing four secondary and five single teacher primary schools to save £3 million.

Parents addressed local councillors Billy Fox and George Smith about their feelings on closing the school, coming up with alternative suggestions of how money could be saved.

One suggestion was Lerwick pupils being bussed to rural schools where there was room to accommodate them, rather than the other way around.

This, it was suggested, could provide a use for Scalloway’s secondary department, which was closed last year amidst huge local opposition.

More likely to be considered by councillors on Thursday is the suggestion the SIC reviews its overall spending priorities.

Councillors, half of whom were elected for the first time in May, held a seminar with senior staff just last week to start discussing such prioritisation.

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Following Monday night’s meeting, Smith said: “The council needs to prioritise its spending and look closely at everything it does. We would prefer savings to come from elsewhere than closing schools.”

Sandwick school parent council chairman James Lucock agreed: “We need to move forward from here, hopefully finding savings from elsewhere than the education budget.”

SIC finance chief James Gray was at the meeting where he outlined the stark financial situation facing the council, which is the subject of a report being presented on Thursday calling for a five year financial strategy.

The plan includes reducing loans to local businesses and cutting back capital spending on everything except high speed broadband and a new secondary school in Lerwick, which the council hopes will attract significant investment from the Scottish government.

The council’s reserves have fallen from a value of £465 million at today’s prices in 2000 to just £193 million and will disappear within five years unless the council gets a grip on its spending.

Currently the SIC spends £36 million a year more than it receives in income, and the target is to cut spending by £30 million over the next two years.