A school board in central Newfoundland is looking at the possibility of closing more schools. The reason is falling enrolments.

One school on the board's list is in Leading Tickles in Notre Dame Bay. It was built for 200 students. Now there are only about 50 of them.

Leading Tickles is suffering the same problem seen in many rural areas; people are moving away and those staying behind are having fewer children.

Empty hallways

The school board says the small number of students in at least half a dozen schools, no longer makes some of them viable. The board says the answer in Leading Tickles is to bus students 25 kilometres away to Point Leamington.

That's upsetting to parents like Jennifer Rowsell, whose second child will start school in two years. Rowsell says the bus ride is just too far for small children to have to travel.

Miranda Rowsell is also concerned that the Leading Tickles school will be closed.

Jennifer Rowsell

"Losing a school is like losing the heart of a community," says Rowsell.

The parents say they will fight to save their school even though they know many other small, rural communities have already lost the very same battle.