Future of Gartly School to be discussed by Aberdeenshire Council's education committee next week
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Aberdeenshire’s Education and Children’s Services Committee is to meet next week to consider the most appropriate next steps for Gartly School.
The committee will be asked to make a recommendation to officers on the next steps - the options are to either proceed with remediation work and re-instatement of Gartly School or conduct a full options appraisal.
Closure of the school will be one of the options in the full appraisal but the authority says there is a presumption against the closure of rural schools and the key driver for such a move would have to be educational benefit.
Pupils and staff moved out of the Gartly School building at the end of 2018 following an extensive oil leak.
So far, £451,154 has been spent on remediation work and it is estimated that a further £872,000 would be required to re-instate the building as a school.
Officers and councillors face the dilemma that the acceptable defined maximum level of contamination for the existing site to be re-instated as a school is zero and this cannot be guaranteed.
The school had a roll of 36, plus nursery children, at the time of the move but many parents have chosen to move elsewhere and the roll now stands at 8.
A report to the committee acknowledges the difficult position parents and carers find themselves in, and the wider Gartly community who would like to see the school re-instated.
The report states: "While the clear preference of responses received are acknowledged, the council also needs to consider the wider requirements across the learning estate."
A summary of comments from Marr Area Committee discussed the school's future in November and comments were sent to the education and children’s services department.
A majority of Marr councillors supported the re-instatement highlighting the importance of rural schools and their benefit to the community.
The meeting is on Thursday.
