Municipal school Lombardsijde has to close
It is sad for the parents and teachers to hear the decision of the municipality of Middelkerke. Mayor Jean-Marie Dedecker, who is a former student herself, also regrets it, but he believes that there is no other way. Jean-Marie Dedecker, mayor Middelkerke: “It is absolutely personal, because I myself attended that school for 10 years, from kindergarten to sixth year. Of course, I am also from Lombardsijde. So it is emotional. We are now going to close this It’s an obligation. We can’t do otherwise.”
100 year anniversary
The number of students here has been declining for years. Now there are 33 left and it should be 40. There are still 10 toddlers and it must be 16 for funding. The municipality now coughs up 100,000 euros annually to pay for the school. Katrien Wouters, school director Ons Lombardje Lombardsijde: “We had partly foreseen it coming. We had been mopping with the tap open for a few years. But suddenly the curtain falls and then you have to communicate it in black and white to your team, the parents, the kids. That’s very emotional.”
In April, the 100th anniversary will be celebrated here, but next year in September there will be no more students here. They can then go to the Duinpieper in Westende. A new school was built there two years ago. Schools have also been closed in Schore, Sint-Pieterskapelle, Leffinge and Mannekensvere in recent years.