Aberdeenshire Council has been accused of bullying parents into moving their children from a rural school – by mothballing it.
Families with youngsters at Strachan Primary were told at the end of term that it would be temporarily closed because of its falling roll.
But parents claim the number of pupils dropped to two only after the local authority announced it was going to make it a “one classroom, one teacher” school.
That would have meant children as young as four having lessons alongside 11-year-olds.
The move prompted 17 families to withdraw their children and enrol them at Banchory, Hill of Banchory and Finzean schools instead.
But the two remaining families have insisted they want their sons to remain at Strachan and have criticised the council’s decision – which they claim was made with no consultation.
Iain Gillies, whose nine-year-old Aaron was at the school, said last night: “We had a meeting with the council officers the week before the end of term, they mentioned nothing about closing or mothballing the school then.
“They explained what mothballing meant and then it was agreed that our children would do some classes in Strachan and then group ones, like gym, in Banchory.
“But they completely disregarded that on the last day of term when we got a letter saying they were mothballing the school.
“Any change to the school needs consultation. If you go with mothballing, it still needs a full consultation and the children are not meant to move while that is happening. The council has chosen not to do that.”
Mr Gillies claimed he and his wife Wendy felt bullied into sending their son elsewhere, adding: “I’m putting in an official complaint of harassment.
“The head teacher from Banchory called the same day we found out the school was being mothballed to ask if we wanted enrolment papers – she shouldn’t have known before us.”
However, he praised the staff at Strachan for being able to meet the needs of both his other children, James and Jenny, when they were at the school.
He added: “My daughter is slightly dyslexic and they were excellent with her, and my son needed some extra help too. They were second to none.
“My daughter was very shy, but because she was at quite a small school it helped her as she was performing in the shows and building up her confidence.”
Jennifer Neish said her nine-year-old son Rory was worried about moving to a bigger school after the holidays.
She said: “He’s a bit behind, and he’s already anxious. That’s why we wanted to stay at Strachan, it’s a nice little school.”
Parents were sent letters on June 10 advising them of a shake-up to school arrangements, after it emerged the head teacher – who taught primaries four to seven – would not be back.
The local authority said the seven primary classes would merge into one Monday to Wednesday, with part-time teachers continuing to work with senior pupils for the rest of the week.
Mrs Neish criticised the council’s handling of the eventual decision to mothball the school.
She said: “It’s all been so sudden and abrupt. They didn’t tell us anything. We had that meeting and thought the school was going to stay open, but the following week it was mothballed. What happened in that week?
“It’s just a shame that everyone else left, but nobody believes in the primary one-to-seven class.”
Last night, Andrew Griffiths, the local authority’s head of primary education and curriculum development, defended the decision.
He said: “Our priority is to provide appropriate educational experiences that benefit young people.
“A number of options have been considered regarding Strachan Primary School as the school roll has dropped recently with pupils moving to nearby schools.
“The school will now be temporarily mothballed with two remaining pupils being educated in another school.
“The school roll will be monitored and the situation kept under review, with ongoing discussion with all appropriate stakeholders.
“There is no proposal at present to close the school permanently.”
A spokeswoman for Aberdeenshire Council insisted a consultation had taken place with parents where “options were discussed” and parents could “outline their preferences”.
She added: “No decisions were made at the meeting and all feedback was considered before parents were provided with further information directly by phone and letter.”