Lochs pupils would be transferred to the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway some seven miles away while the government has to ratify the Paible decision as it is more than ten miles away from Sgoil Lionacleit on the neighbouring island of Benbecula.
At a full meeting of Western Isles Council yesterday (Thurs) cllr Annie Macdonald urged delaying shutting Lochs secondary until 2011 or until the upgrading for the crumbling Nicolson is completed.
She warned that pupils could be “uprooted from a top class secure environment to portacabins in the Nicolson” with concerned families considering leaving the district if the school closes.
Cllr Philip Mclean said: “Taking pupils from this fantastic facility to a building site at the Nicolson Institute is just nonsensical.”
But Angus McCormack warned that deteriorating “schools are not just falling, they are collapsing in a heap.”
None of the North Uist politicians voted to keep Paible secondary and it took South Uist and Barra councillors fight for it.
Cllr David Blaney said: "I cannot see the savings going to the education pot by discontinuing the school. The buildings are not closing down. They will still be there. Some might be partly empty and of more cost to the council ."
Cllr Donald Manford said the council went the wrong way about the closures and should have had "a wider in-depth engagement with the community of the Western Isles before we embarked on this."
Archie Campbell said that just two parents with children in Paible raised concerns with him.
Stornoway councillor Murdo Macleod said that island teachers said that the new curriculum could be delivered in the rural secondary schools
Cllr Kenneth Maciver slammed the old council for failing to close the schools leaving the unpleasant task to current councillors who now had to take the consequences.
Education chair Morag Munro stressed: "Schools rolls are falling drastically and the implication is that the amount of funding from the Scottish Government reduces accordingly.
She added: “Our buildings have deteriorated because our maintenance budget suffered for many years
She said that the savings would provide new schools for 40% of island pupils while nearly half of the current 40 schools are in a poor condition.
Lochs and Paible will now no longer accept secondary pupils after this summer and both secondary units will shut in July 2010.

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