Vol. 516 No. 2
43 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Education and Science the status of St. John of God's secondary school, Kilmore Road, Coolock, Dublin 5; the status of the other schools in the immediate vicinity and feeder schools; the mechanism available to change the status in order to enhance the status in the best interest of the school authorities and pupils; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7141/00]
In the current school year, of the total of 752 schools at second level, 211 have disadvantaged status. Six of these schools are in the Dublin 5 area. Fourteen primary schools in the Dublin 5 area have been designated as disadvantaged.
A study of educational disadvantage conducted by the Combat Poverty Agency and the Educational Research Centre in 1996 concluded that disadvantage status should be confined to 16% of the school going population. The study noted that such status had already been granted to 17% of pupils. As an alternative to extending the disadvantaged areas scheme to additional schools, the study recommended that available resources be targeted at the most disadvantaged schools.
The position of this school will receive full consideration in the context of any future review of the disadvantaged scheme.
With regard to the general staffing of this school, the Deputy will be pleased to learn that, for the current school year, my Department sanctioned the retention of a number of teachers who would otherwise have been liable for redeployment and also granted a concessionary allocation of teaching resources to cater for curricular needs in the school.
