Call to end Coatbridge school sit-in
Parents staging a sit-in at a closure-threatened primary school in North Lanarkshire have been urged to end their protest.
About ten people have been occupying Gartsherrie Primary in Coatbridge since 2 June.
North Lanarkshire Council has announced the school will now remain permanently closed to pupils.
An arrangement where children are bussed to a local secondary for lessons will be in place until the end of term.
The school is among four primaries in the region due to shut for good at the end of June.
Parents had set up an action group to fight the closure, staged marches, signed petitions and even mounted an unsuccessful legal challenge against the council's decision.
A spokesman for North Lanarkshire council said it had taken "every appropriate action" to end the occupation.
He said the council had offered to meet with parents and to waive the legal fees due to the local authority as a result of the recent Court of Session hearing.
He added: "To provide continuity for parents and staff, the council has decided that pupils will not return to the Gartsherrie building this session."
Councillor Jim Logue, convener of learning and leisure services, said: "It is very sad that the Coatbridge community will not be able to experience the school for a last time.
"It is not the way we would have chosen to mark the closing of Gartsherrie Primary which has had such a long and proud history."
All parents have been sent a letter informing them of the arrangements.