Save Scalloway School

[Mag]

It will be great news for Lerwick pupils and Scalloway pupils alike if this decision is reversed and Scalloway is kept open. Fingers crossed that they listen to the public this time.

[Guest Anonymous]

when the circus is all clowns and no ringmaster what more could you expect.

[Mutton]

Oh here we go again. Bressay Bridge, Anderson High School and now Scalloway school.

 

Will members please stick with the decisions that they have made. This is exactly the kind of antics that we want to get rid of in the Council.

 

The members are being completely selfish by seeking to save the school for political acclaim. By failing to make savings the Council's putting the lifestyle of future generations in jeopardy by relying on dipping into the Council's reserve fund.

 

Future generations have already lost £50m worth of reserve funds in real terms. That means the Council is earning less interest and will have less money to spend on other front line services in the future.

[MRMillington]

Given the time and money the elected members have managed to waste trying to get the new AHS built,if this motion goes ahead Scalloway Secondary will never close. In the meantime the savings lost will be passed on to every other school in Shetland. By the time the new AHS is built the elected members will have managed to ruin the education service for the whole of Shetland.

[JustMe]

Oh here we go again. Bressay Bridge, Anderson High School and now Scalloway school.

 

Will members please stick with the decisions that they have made. This is exactly the kind of antics that we want to get rid of in the Council.

 

The members are being completely selfish by seeking to save the school for political acclaim. By failing to make savings the Council's putting the lifestyle of future generations in jeopardy by relying on dipping into the Council's reserve fund.

 

Future generations have already lost £50m worth of reserve funds in real terms. That means the Council is earning less interest and will have less money to spend on other front line services in the future.

Or are some of the councillors simply being big enough to admit that they have made a mistake in deciding to close Scalloway Secondary at this time and are prepared to go through yet another public change of mind for the sake of both the Scalloway and the AHS kids?.

[paulb]

Whats changed. they knew that anderson was not up to getting the scalloway pupils yet they all voted for it. As the parents and kids are now in the planning stage to move to the anderson this is just messing about.

Is it more that they are facing the voters in just a years time and they can now claim that the opposed the shutting of the school.

[trowie246]

Why did Gussie Angus and Helen Budge meet with scottish government officials during the call-in period?

 

Given that the main reason there was a call-in was to do with the new AHS why was this issue never fully addressed?

 

Everyone knows that Gussie Angus can't see past the Staney hill. The sooner the SIC goes back to having a town council and a county council the better in my opinion.

 

School closures all add up to one thing - centralisation. If you take it at face value there may be some savings in the long, long run. But if you look at it more deeply it is much more complicated than that.

 

For example, my husband runs a small aquaculture business that employs 12 people in a very rural area. We struggle to find able-bodied men to work in the company as it is but if our school closes this could become even more difficult. My husband is forced to give up his business. Twelve people lose their jobs. We move to the central belt of Shetland so my husband can get another job and our bairns can attend a school nearby. Purchases and work that the company bought from local businesses in Lerwick is no longer and there is a knock on effect there. Now, apply this same scenario to the salmon industry in the isles, this is a multi-million pound industry that supports the fish factory in Lerwick, a major employer. The people of Lerwick and our local councillors may not realise it but Lerwick businesses and the people of Lerwick need to keep communities alive in rural areas - closing schools may cost Shetland dearly if they are not.

[JustMe]

There is almost certainly a reasonable enough argument for Scalloway Secondary pupils moving to the new AHS once it is built on the grounds that the new school will have better facilities and the larger school roll will give a wider range of subjects available but that only applies once the new school is built. Meanwhile if some of the councillors have finally realised that cramming extra pupils into the current AHS is not a great idea then hooray for that even though it is late in the day and has doubtless cost money making and unmaking (if that is what happens) the closure decision.

 

Considering the number of able bodied people who commute vast distances to Lerwick or SVT for work I am not convinced that closing a rural primary school should cause problems for employers in rural areas needing able bodied men who could just as easily commute towards a job in a rural area for the right job at the right pay. But it would be a pity if all the families with young children moved out of somewhere like Sandness if the primary school was closed and the parents did not want their children to commute to school.

[Wagon Wheel]

Hopefully councilors will realise this time that the AHS is not fit purpose any more.

School service said this in their proposal to build a new school.

 

The AHS head teacher has said this publicly.

 

http://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2009/01/23/school-building-is-past-its-shelf-life-warns-head-teacher.

 

And health and safety have said this.

 

http://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2011/02/04/social-area-costing-up-to-100000-will-be-built-at-ahs

 

Most Scalloway parents and pupils would be happier if the bairns were being moved to the new AHS, and not a building which is in this state and contravenes fire regulations.

 

At present AHS pupils aren't even able to have a hot lunch some days, this shall only get worse with more pupils.

[trowie246]

 

Considering the number of able bodied people who commute vast distances to Lerwick or SVT for work I am not convinced that closing a rural primary school should cause problems for employers in rural areas needing able bodied men who could just as easily commute towards a job in a rural area for the right job at the right pay. But it would be a pity if all the families with young children moved out of somewhere like Sandness if the primary school was closed and the parents did not want their children to commute to school.

 

After our last advert in the Shetland Times for a worker we did have enquiries from people in Scalloway and Brae - however I don't think they had done their sums and realised how much the ferry fares are and how far it is to north Yell. With increasing fuel costs I think people are having to think very carefully about costs involved in commuting long distances to get to work. It's my belief that some people would move closer to their work if there was affordable housing available, how often do you see adverts on Shetlink or in the Shetland times looking for accommodation in and around Lerwick?

 

You hit the nail on the head with your last sentence, the point is that families will consider leaving areas that no longer has a school and couples/families won't settle there. Certainly in the north isles we need local people who want to live and work here to have thriving communities. Workers who commute may be able to keep a business going but they don't keep the community going.

[kittybee]

As a parent of a bairn from scalloway who is now settled at the idea of having to go to the anderson this year, I have a question....

WHAT IS GOING ON?!!!!

The parents of scalloway have voiced all their concerns (Which were dismissed/ignored at the time)

And now, the council "appear" to be thinking of doing a U-turn?

MAKE UP YOUR MINDS, PLEASE!!

Its not fair to make the bairns suffer yet more uncertainty.

[Njugle]

I think its worth pointing out that the decision to close Scalloway was not unanimous at the time, and those that opposed it at that time are in the forefront of this effort to retain it until the AHS is ready.

[GypsyScy]

I do think that many folk believed that this would be the alternative option that the Scottish government would return with after calling in the decision. It would surely be the most cost effective long term solution to the current situation??

[Graeme_Storey]

If you are parents of kids (in the Scalloway 'catchment area') who are about to go to high school, it must be very difficult.

 

Whatever the rights or wrongs of the original decision, the 'being in limbo' situation for Scalloway Junior High now, may mean its demise is just more drawn out and protracted as parents can't commit (on their kid's behalf) to send them to Scalloway when it has such an uncertain future.

 

It all seems quite confusing, and must be very hard for any kids and parents trying to make decisions that may well affect a young person's entire future.

[kittybee]

Scalloway will have to close to save money - no doubt about that!

But why did the majority of the council not see the sense in waiting till the new Anderson was built? Im just saying that to put the poor bairns through MORE uncertainty NOW is very unsettling for them. Why couldnt the council have seen the most sensible option in the first place?