Neon for Norton: N.B. community starts colourful campaign to save school

Residents of a New Brunswick community are painting their town neon as they fight to keep their elementary school open.

Norton Elementary School is one of a dozen provincial schools slated for the chopping block, but students, staff and residents are showing their support for the school with a colourful campaign.

“We started out, you know, help us go Neon for Norton, and there is a local girl who started a Facebook page called Neon for Norton and she started decorating as well and it’s just taken off from there,” says Shawnee McConchie, a member of the Save our School Committee.

Gas pumps, trees and stop signs are adorned with neon ribbons, while the message ‘save our school’ has been spray painted in neon on snowbanks in the community.

“This is great. It’s bringing our community together,” says parent Russell Hall. “It’s doing something for our community, even though we’re going through a rough time right now of fighting for our school.”

Norton Elementary was built in 1922 and currently houses almost 90 students in grades one through five.

“This coming year the registration for the kindergarten class is already at 22, which is higher than what they projected,” says community member Rev. Donald Dunn. “They were projecting 15 and we have 22 coming in.”

The government is in the process of conducting a sustainability study and review of the school. Dunn says the students would be scattered to other schools in the area if Norton Elementary was to close.

“What would happen is, the proposal is 70 per cent of the students would go to Apohaqui and then 12 students would go out to Belleisle, the elementary school in Belleisle, and then eight would end up going to Hampton,” says Dunn.

A decision is expected at the end of April.