Protest against ‘dangerous’ school

SOUTHSIDE students gathered outside the Dáil recently to protest against a decision to put off the replacement of their

“dangerous

? secondary school building for at least three years.

Students, parents and teaching staff at Newpark Comprehensive School in Blackrock are campaigning to persuade Education Minister Ruairí Quinn to progress the construction of a replacement school building as a matter of priority.

Last November the long awaited project for a new school building, which was first mooted in 2000, was listed on the Government’s etenders.ie website.

The listing of individual projects on the website is generally an indication that schemes will progress.

However, Aileen O’Meara, the spokesperson for the campaign for the construction of a new school building, said the board of management had been informed by the Department of Education that the new build had been put back until 2015 or 2016.

Ms O’Meara, whose son attends Newpark, described the decision as an unacceptable delay for students and staff.

As part of the ongoing campaign for a replacement building for the 830 pupils of the non-fee-paying Church of Ireland school, 25 students delivered 500 handwritten letters to Minister Quinn’s office in Leinster House.

Ms O’Meara claimed the building was overcrowded and potentially dangerous.

“The building dates from 1972,

? she said.

“It is supposed to only have 600 pupils but it has 830. It is a single storey flat roof building and the roof is leaking badly.

“The floods last October were an extreme example but when it rained heavily the school had to be closed for a day and a half.

“The science labs are way behind what they should be and there are issues with the ventilation and electrical wiring, as well as with the floors and drainage.

?

She added:

“Ten per cent of the school are special needs students. There are parts of the building they can’t access because there are no steps.

?

One of the letters written by a pupil at the school to Minister Quinn states:

“We have had two inspections at the school, one in 2006 and one in 2008 and on both occasions Newpark was informed that our science labs were not up to standard. However, due to the promise of a new building our science labs were not updated.

?

Ms O’Meara added that teaching staff have claimed they will not be able to deliver the science curriculum at the school next year unless they are provided with alternative accommodation.

“We think that the department should be able to give the go ahead for building new portakabins,

? Ms O’Meara said.

“The planning permission is there. We need to have those portakabins in place by this autumn while the work on the main new school building takes place.

?

A spokesperson at the Department of Education said the building project for Newpark Comprehensive has been included in its five-year construction programme and is scheduled to commence construction in 2015 or 2016.

The spokesperson said a submission on proposals for the scheme was received last week from Newpark and is currently under review.

“This submission includes tender documents and is the precursor to tender and construction stage,

? the spokesperson added.