13-12-2013, 06:26 PM
From BBC news website. Scotland page.
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Scotland's smallest secondary school - Skerries in Shetland - is set to close next summer, after a narrow vote.
The school, which has three pupils, serves the Out Skerries, a small smattering of islands an hour and a half's ferry journey east of the Shetland mainland.
Shetland Islands Council made the decision to close it on the casting vote of its convener.
It came after a two-and-a-half hour meeting ended in a 10-10 vote.
The council has previously argued that Skerries pupils would get a better schooling if they were educated in Lerwick, and that closing the school would save almost £74,000 a year.
Islanders - who fear closure could force many families to leave the small island community - said they hope the decision can still be reversed.
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I am somewhat surprised that after a tied vote the casting vote was not used to support the status quo.
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Scotland's smallest secondary school - Skerries in Shetland - is set to close next summer, after a narrow vote.
The school, which has three pupils, serves the Out Skerries, a small smattering of islands an hour and a half's ferry journey east of the Shetland mainland.
Shetland Islands Council made the decision to close it on the casting vote of its convener.
It came after a two-and-a-half hour meeting ended in a 10-10 vote.
The council has previously argued that Skerries pupils would get a better schooling if they were educated in Lerwick, and that closing the school would save almost £74,000 a year.
Islanders - who fear closure could force many families to leave the small island community - said they hope the decision can still be reversed.
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I am somewhat surprised that after a tied vote the casting vote was not used to support the status quo.