Parents opposed to the school’s closure described Fife Council’s campaign to shut the school as “underhand” and “tantamount to institutional bullying.”
Prior to the education and children’s services committee, members of the school’s parent council presented a petition containing 719 signatures to councillors making their way to the meeting at Fife House.
Of the 98 responses to a consultation at the school, 42 were received from parents or carers of pupils at Dunearn, with 39 of the 42 wishing to see the status quo maintained.
More than half of the remainder who replied parents of pupils at other schools or other interested parties also said they wanted to see the school kept open, at least for the time being.
Steve Harper, who has a daughter at the school, insisted the consultation was flawed and said there had been a “lack of completeness and transparency” about the information provided in the process.
“It is our view that the case to close Dunearn has not been made and we are very unhappy that Fife Council has singled out one school for closure,” he said.
“Fife Council has admitted publicly that they are reviewing the primary school estate Fife-wide.
“They have therefore pre-empted the outcome of their own strategic review.
“The campaign mounted by Fife Council to force closure of this school was underhand from the outset and in our view, tantamount to institutional bullying.”
The parent council has suggested Fife Council had not met the spirit of the School Consultation Scotland Act 2010, which sets out the steps to be followed before a school closure can be approved.
Indeed, many parents protesting on Thursday suggested the information provided by the council throughout had been nothing more than a “box ticking” exercise and had not addressed the parents’ concerns.
Mr Harper noted Templehall is high up the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation list and said the area needed inward investment rather than the removal of educational resources.
“A key requirement of the act is that the local authority must give notice to the proposal to the relevant consultees and invite representations,” he said.
“However, staff at the school were instructed not to attend the meetings to discuss the proposed closure and could therefore not represent their views to Fife Council on the future of the school.”
Shelley Donnelly (39), from Kirkcaldy, has her children Jack (11) and Charlie (6) at Dunearn and expressed her dismay at the situation.
“I just feel that the whole way the council has done this is underhand,” she said.
“Dunearn’s such a good wee school and academically it does well and it should stay open.
“Jack’s in P7 and will go up to the high school but Charlie will go to Fair Isle if this goes ahead.
“Fair Isle is a lovely school but I’m sorry, it is not the school I wanted Charlie to go to.”
A total of 187 pupils at Dunearn were also surveyed during the consultation, 86% of whom (161) were against closing the school.
Some of the younger pupils described Dunearn as “the best school ever,” while P3/4 pupils said they were concerned about the building, and if there were other schools which would have to close.