BELLEVILLE – Madoc Township Public School (MTPS) has officially survived the Hastings Prince Edward District School Board’s consolidation and closure reviews.

School board members voted in favour of keeping the only school in the rural part of the community open at Monday night’s final board meeting.

Once the final verdict was delivered, an eruption of applause and smiles were exchanged between supporters in the audience. 

Initial recommendations had suggested that the school board approve the consolidation of MTPS and Madoc Public School (MPS) at the Madoc Public School site by this September.

But after consultation and pleas from concerned residents, trustees at last week’s Student Enrolment/School Capacity Committee proposed a new set of recommendations. 

In the revised suggestions, the committee had proposed reincorporating former Grade 7 and Grade 8 students back to MTPS from MPS.  As a result, Madoc Township would then be run as a kindergarten to Grade 8 school – a decision the board ended up approving at the final meeting.

The board also gave the okay for a business case to be submitted to the Ministry of Education for funding in order to consolidate Centre Hastings Secondary School (CHSS), MPS and MTPS in hopes of building a new Kindergarten to Grade 12 school in the Madoc area.

Should the business case not be approved, the board plans to join MPS with CHSS as a Kindergarten to Grade 12 school at the CHSS site.

Amy Beaton, a resident of Madoc Township, said she was excited about the board’s decisions as it would do nothing but benefit her community.

“It’s a great decision for our children and the future of rural Ontario,” she said. “Every municipality and township needs a school in the area. It’s great.”

But even more importantly, Beaton said the trustees set a precedent with their decision to keep MTPS open.

“It’s not too often you hear that a rural school remains open (once it’s put up for review),” said Beaton. “It’s just great news and hopefully the Liberal government will listen and take note. We’re only hurting our children if they don’t have a school in their community.”

North Hastings trustee and chair of the board, Lucille Kyle, said the decisions made in regards to Centre Hastings were a direct result of the community that championed hard to keep MTPS open.

“It was a unanimous vote,” she said. “We listened to the people and public confidence does matter to us.”

At Monday’s meeting, the school board also voted to rename Marmora Senior Public School to Marmora Public School.

Board member, Bonnie Danes said the decision was made based on public consultation and from recommendations from the Marmora School Renaming Committee.

“It was really, really appropriate and speaks to the location of the school,” said Danes, joking about the name’s simple change. “It was certainly a community effort.”

As for schools in Prince Edward County, the handful of recommendations presented to the board were passed without any issues.

The community of Sophiasburgh was granted a year to build a business plan in order to save Sophiasburgh Central Public School (SCPS). The proposed plans include turning the school it into a community hub.

If a signed contractual agreement, outlining the financial viability of a community hub, is not brought forth by May 1, the students from Sophiasburgh would be consolidated with students at Prince Edward Collegiate Institute by September 2018.

The board also approved the suggestion to consolidate students from Pinecrest Memorial Elementary School, Queen Elizabeth School (Picton) and Sophiasburgh Central School at Queen Elizabeth School (Picton) in order to form a Kindergarten to Grade 6 School by this September.

The relocation of Grade 7 and 8 students from Pinecrest Memorial Elementary School, Queen Elizabeth School (Picton) and Sophiasburgh Central School to Prince Edward Collegiate Institute in order to create a Grade 7 to Grade 12 school by September 2017 was given the stamp of approval.

Lastly, the school board voted to keep the plans to consolidate students from Queen Elizabeth School (Picton) and Prince Edward Collegiate Institute at Prince Edward Collegiate Institute in order to create a Kindergarten to Grade 12 School by September 2018.

The board must now submit funding applications to the Ministry of Education by September 8, 2017.