Edition 123
www.thecourier.es
Friday, June 28, 2013
SCHOOL’S OUT
BUT NOT JUST FOR SUMMER? By Alex Trelinski
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Parents could boycott a Rojales school after being snubbed over urgent repairs. The PTA group, AMPA, at the Principe de Espana school, is balloting parents about keeping their children away from the start of the new school year in September. The school building was classified as ‘uninhabitable’ in a surveyor’s report that was commissioned by AMPA in April. Despite two meetings with Valencia education chiefs, just 28 thousand Euros was released for repairs last month. Parent, Rachel King, told The Courier: - “If that amount of money is meant to repair all the structural problems, I’d love to meet the contractor that could do it!” Last January, The Courier reported the anger over the state of the building which led to AMPA staging a sit-in there. They, with the support of the Rojales council, have been lobbying the Valencia authorities to find money to replace the structure that
has been condemned by the fire brigade. Water leaks, rising damp, and bad electrics have been just some of the problems that the parents of the 500 pupils have complained about. The Courier also reported on a six year old boy needing emergency treatment at Torrevieja Hospital after falling on the cracked gymnasium floor, and then a subsequent meeting in February between parents and Valencia education chief, Rafael Carbonell. In that meeting Carbonell said
that there was no immediate money for improvements and poured cold water on any prospect of a new building. AMPA representatives returned to Valencia in May, with Carbonell telling them that he could only give them 28 thousand Euros: - that amount being made public a week before the scheduled meeting. The money will be used to deal with some of the cracked and crumbling support beams, but angry parents say that is not enough. “We’ve been pushed to the
edge, but with it being the holidays, it’s difficult to work out how many will back a boycott”, said Rachel King. “The whole thing is mired in politics because Rojales is run by the PSOE whilst the PP is calling the shots in Valencia. The Rojales council has been excellent in our fight”. An AMPA spokesman said that their boycott ballot was a drastic move, but circumstances meant that they were left with no other choice.
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