Everything changed when the family moved to P.E.I. and his son enrolled at Belfast Consolidated School.
"He was like a new boy when he came home from his first day,'' an emotional Buffa said in front of an overflowing gymnasium at Belfast Consolidated School Thursday night as the community turned out to fight the Public Schools Branch report released this week that recommends closing five schools, including Belfast.
The message was loud and clear — the community is not going to take this potential decision lying down.
"We will save our community, we just need to stand together,'' Buffa said.
Keir White, president of the Eastern Chamber of Commerce, as well as the local golf pro and member of the Belfast Community Development Corporation, chaired the meeting.
White said one of the meeting’s goals was to form a committee to spearhead an effort to save the school from possible closure. Marcella Ryan, president of the Belfast Home and School Association, is currently accepting names to serve on a committee. The more volunteers she gets the more work they can accomplish, she said.
"We have to unite and build a strong team and take this public,'' White added. "We're here to fight for Belfast school.''
Some of the students put together a presentation to summarize what closing the school would mean to them. Displayed as part of an overhead presentation, it spoke of how losing the school would sever friendships and affect the community, as well as how every student at the school has a chance to participate, how everyone knows everyone. It also talked about how the community came together three years ago to fundraise for a new playground, built by members of the community.
Trinity Gleadall, a Grade 7 student, helped with the presentation.
"Taking our school is like taking away our home, our community's home,” she told the assembled crowd.
“It's not just a school, it's a place where students and staff are comfortable. We're a family and it should stay that way.''
Gleadall also wonders what will happen to the teachers at Belfast should it close, even though the Public Schools Branch has stated no teaching positions would be lost, at least initially.
"The amount of trust you build with teachers here is unbelievable. I'm proud to say I go to Belfast Consolidated. We are going to fight for our school.''
Mike Adam, a Belfast parent, put it more bluntly. He told the crowd the community is going to have to get vocal to reverse the branch's mind and that of government's. He says the only way to stop Belfast from closing is to compile good, real data and hire a lawyer to fight it.
"Government wants us to play this game,'' Adam said, referring to Thursday's meeting. "Any group of parents can come up with reasons why their school should stay open.''
Adam said it may come to staging sit-ins in ministerial offices and protests.
Belfast-Murray River MLA Darlene Compton said it's time to take the emotion out of the equation and come up with solid options. While it's only been three days since the branch's category II report was released, she said she's had a number of conversations with people in eastern P.E.I. and across the province. Suggestions include greening the building to reduce the estimated $100,000 operation cost of running it each year and launching a virtual teaching environment.
Compton added that closing the school would save the province less than one per cent of its overall operating budget.
"I would hope the premier would think long and hard before ripping away the heart of the community,'' Compton said.
Everything changed when the family moved to P.E.I. and his son enrolled at Belfast Consolidated School.
"He was like a new boy when he came home from his first day,'' an emotional Buffa said in front of an overflowing gymnasium at Belfast Consolidated School Thursday night as the community turned out to fight the Public Schools Branch report released this week that recommends closing five schools, including Belfast.
The message was loud and clear — the community is not going to take this potential decision lying down.
"We will save our community, we just need to stand together,'' Buffa said.
Keir White, president of the Eastern Chamber of Commerce, as well as the local golf pro and member of the Belfast Community Development Corporation, chaired the meeting.
White said one of the meeting’s goals was to form a committee to spearhead an effort to save the school from possible closure. Marcella Ryan, president of the Belfast Home and School Association, is currently accepting names to serve on a committee. The more volunteers she gets the more work they can accomplish, she said.
"We have to unite and build a strong team and take this public,'' White added. "We're here to fight for Belfast school.''
Some of the students put together a presentation to summarize what closing the school would mean to them. Displayed as part of an overhead presentation, it spoke of how losing the school would sever friendships and affect the community, as well as how every student at the school has a chance to participate, how everyone knows everyone. It also talked about how the community came together three years ago to fundraise for a new playground, built by members of the community.
Trinity Gleadall, a Grade 7 student, helped with the presentation.
"Taking our school is like taking away our home, our community's home,” she told the assembled crowd.
“It's not just a school, it's a place where students and staff are comfortable. We're a family and it should stay that way.''
Gleadall also wonders what will happen to the teachers at Belfast should it close, even though the Public Schools Branch has stated no teaching positions would be lost, at least initially.
"The amount of trust you build with teachers here is unbelievable. I'm proud to say I go to Belfast Consolidated. We are going to fight for our school.''
Mike Adam, a Belfast parent, put it more bluntly. He told the crowd the community is going to have to get vocal to reverse the branch's mind and that of government's. He says the only way to stop Belfast from closing is to compile good, real data and hire a lawyer to fight it.
"Government wants us to play this game,'' Adam said, referring to Thursday's meeting. "Any group of parents can come up with reasons why their school should stay open.''
Adam said it may come to staging sit-ins in ministerial offices and protests.
Belfast-Murray River MLA Darlene Compton said it's time to take the emotion out of the equation and come up with solid options. While it's only been three days since the branch's category II report was released, she said she's had a number of conversations with people in eastern P.E.I. and across the province. Suggestions include greening the building to reduce the estimated $100,000 operation cost of running it each year and launching a virtual teaching environment.
Compton added that closing the school would save the province less than one per cent of its overall operating budget.
"I would hope the premier would think long and hard before ripping away the heart of the community,'' Compton said.