Griffin School's local school board has accepted a motion to close their school by the end of the current school year, following on the wishes voted on by the community at an emotional meeting in June.

A community meeting was initially held in June to discuss the future of Griffin School, and once the current enrolment situation was explained fully to the parents, they voted in favour of the closure and sending the students to school in Weyburn in the fall of 2006, said Audrey Trombley, Griffin-area trustee of the South Central School Division.

"It's a question of the number of teachers we can have due to our low enrolment. We can't continue to have three teachers in a school with 23 children," said Trombley, adding reducing the number of teachers would mean multi-grade classes, such as K-4 in one room.

"It was a very emotional decision to make. Our school has been a very close school, and we have very excellent teachers. But it's the nature of rural Saskatchewan to have a declining population. I can tell you there were tears rolling down their faces as they raised their hands," said Trombley.

Since that June meeting, the issue has had to go through the legal procedures set down by the province. Trombley explained that either a board has to give a certain amount of notice of closure, or that can be waived if the local board and local community agree to go with the closure, as has happened in this case.

The local board made a recommendation to have the school closed, then it went to the South Central board, which passed a motion favouring the closure. That motion went back to the local board which just recently gave it approval, and now it has to go back again to South Central. Their next meeting is on Thursday, Nov. 10.

Griffin parents fought the closure of the school a few years ago, but then the enrolment was over 30, said Trombley. Not only has the enrolment declined, but there are no prospects for more children attending.

Once South Central meets, other issues will be looked at, such as which schools the students will attend, and what will happen to Griffin School's building and property.

Trombley said normally the school would be offered back to the community, but she can't say this will happen until the board has discussed it. As for which schools the students will go to, Trombley noted that by the fall of 2006, all public schools in the area will be under the Southeast School Division; at this point, however, it appears the students will go to Queen Elizabeth and Weyburn Junior High schools. High school students already attend the Weyburn Comprehensive School.