Don’t Let Them Close Your School!

Minutes of the meeting held in Malupit Community School on Wednesday 14th March at 8.00p.m．

Mr. I．Pomat , a Malupit shop owner, called the meeting to find out the views of the community on local government plans to close the Malupit Community School at the end of the present school year．

Mr. Pomat acted as chairman of the meeting．

He introduced Mr. L．Karazin, the Planning Office of the Raval Education Department．Mr. Karazin pointed¹ out that there were now only fifty-three children at Malupit Community School．This was considered to be too high a number for the forming of two classes and the employment² of two teachers．Mrs. Luvako, who had taught at the school for the past twenty-two years, would be retiring from the teaching³ service in July．The Planning Office wished to take this opportunity to close the school, because it is expensive to run , and to move the children to two bigger schools in Raval, six miles away．

Mrs. Jarvis, the mother of an eight-year-old boy at Malupit, asked what would happen about transport o Ravel．Mr. Karazin replied that the children would travel by bus．This would be provided⁴ by the Raval Transport Department, and it would take Malupit children to and from school free of charge．

Another parent, Mr. W．Riley, expressed the fear of many parents that closing the local school would mean that the children of Malupit would not grow up with the same sense of community as in the past．They would feel lost in the much larger schools in Raval．

Mr. Karazin replied that the Raval schools were not very large, and that , in any case the children would have to go to Raval later on for education at high-school level．

The chairman voiced the view of the meeting when he said hat there was good reason to believe that there would soon be more young children living in Malupit．It would be foolish, he said, to close the school, and then to find that there were more than enough local children to form two classes and employ two teachers．

A final point was made by Mr. Colmar, a retired⁵ business man, that without Malupit Community School, there would be nowhere big enough for local clubs and organizations to hold their meetings．

Mr. Karazin promised that the would bring these points to the attention of the Education Department．

Mr. Pomat brought the meeting to a close shortly⁶ after 9 o’clock．

1．The Planning Office had decided⁷ to close the school because

A．there were too many children in each class．

B．the schools in Raval were bigger and better．

C．it had too few children and it was expensive to run．

D．the teacher was retiring and they could not find another．

2．The children would no longer go to Malupit Community School, they would _____.

A． go to Raval for education at high-school level

B． receive their education at the Ravel Education Department

C． attend a new local school to be built by the Planning Office

D． travel every day to two schools in Raval, six miles away

3．Mr. Karazin said that the children would _____.

A．travel by bus to Raval, without cost to their parents

B．travel to Raval in their parents’ cars

C．be taken each day by bus to the Raval Transport Department

D．go by bus to and from school at a low cost to parents

4．“The Chairman voiced the view of the meeting” means⁸ _____.

A． he was the one who called the meeting to find out parents’ views

B． he spoke⁹ most at the meeting because he was chairman

C． he said what everyone at the meeting had asked him to say

D． he expressed the opinion held by everyone at the meeting

KEY: 1-4 CDAD