Parents get their way in student relocation

Most students of P.E.I.'s Morell Consolidated School, closed last Friday due to mould contamination, will attend St. Peters as requested by parents at a meeting Tuesday.

'We settled down the emotions and came together as a community.' — Owen Parkhouse, P.E.I. Home and School Federation

Eastern School District had told parents at the Tuesday meeting children from grades three to eight would attend Morell Regional High while repairs were being made at their school. But parents stood up and objected to the plan. They said St Peters, closed permanently in June 2009 because low enrolment, was a better choice.

At a second meeting Thursday, Eastern School District superintendent Ricky Hood agreed to the parents' request.

"I have a team at the school board office that have been poring over this for the last two days," said Hood.

"We came to the decision that I could stand here as a superintendent and say this is the plan I endorse for the best education needs of these students."

Kindergarten to six stay together

The new plan also affects students from kindergarten to grade two, who had been headed to Mount Stewart School. They will go to St Peters with grades three to six. Grades seven and eight will still attend Morell Regional High.

"It was a very productive meeting and I think, you know, we settled down the  emotions and came together as a community," said Owen Parkhouse, president of the P.E.I. Home and School Federation, who has a daughter, who has a daughter in grade five at Morell.

"Parents are walking away happy and I think it highlights that education is important to parents on the Island."

The Morell students are currently out of class. School officials had hoped to have them return Tuesday. The change in plan, said Hood, means that will now be Thursday. The school district hopes to have students return to Morell Consolidated in September.