Parents await provincial response to school closure ruling

Parents at Brown's Flat and Lorne Middle schools are anxiously awaiting the provincial government's next move after a court decision threw the closure of the two Saint John-area schools into question.

On Friday, Justice Darrell Stephenson quashed a decision by Education Minister Serge Rousselle to accept a DEC recommendation to close Lorne Middle School and Brown's Flat Elementary.

The ruling finds the procedure by which the schools were closed was flawed.

Ken Craft, the chair of the parent and school support committee at Lorne Middle, applauded Stephenson's decision.

"It's good to see that the rule of law actually matters when it comes to issues such as closing schools in this province," he said.

Roussellesaid in a statement on Friday afternoon that he is reviewing the judge's decision.

While the court decision sends the matter back to the desk of the education minister it does not specifically order the schools to remain open.

The judge ruled that Rousselle's decision to accept the district education council's recommendationto close the two schools was not reasonable because the process did not follow policy 409, which governs school closures.

Craft said he's prepared to go back to court if the Department of Education attempts to keep Lorne closed this September.

According to Kelly Lamrock, the lawyer representing parents at the two schools, the tight timeline makes it almost impossible to close the schools this year.