Parents told that class merger will not go ahead
Galway City Tribune - Parents at Scoil Bhríde in Menlo – who were faced with a merged 5th and 6th class of 41 pupils for the coming year – are hopeful the issue has been resolved following the intervention of the school’s patron.
The school has announced that Rang 5 and Rang 6 will not now be merged, but did not offer any further information on how the matter has been resolved.
However, it is understood that existing resources within the school will be reorganised for the coming year, and an appeal will be made to the Primary Staffing Appeals Board for the allocation of an extra teacher for the 2019/20 school year.
Parents affected by the controversy received a text message on Tuesday evening reading: “As a result of a directive from the school patron [the Bishop of Galway, Most Rev Dr Brendan Kelly], we are pleased to report that rang 5 and rang 6 will not be merged in 2018/19. An information meeting for parents of rang 5 and 6 will take place at 7pm in the Áras on Friday.”
Parents at the school remain optimistic ahead of tonight’s meeting.
“We don’t know if the school was successful in securing an additional teacher or if other classes will be adversely by alternative regroupings. So we’re keeping our fingers crossed that an extra teacher has been allocated in light of the exceptional circumstances that exist in Menlo,” explained one parent.
The U-turn came about after a concerted campaign by parents opposing the move since they received a letter informing them of the amalgamation two days before summer holidays. This is a preview only. To read the rest of this article, see this week's Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week's paper here.
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