About 100 people gathered at the town’s hall to discuss the future of education in the valley, after parents of Eskdale and Mitta primary students voted to combine the two schools and base all classes at Eskdale.

After almost two hours of debate, a crowd majority voted to recommend Mitta’s school council revisit the idea of keeping the primary school running in its own right.

The school council will meet on Monday night, where the community’s recommendation will be considered along with the option of ratifying the parents’ vote.

The demographic future of Mitta and the concept of community ownership were central to discussions at the meeting, which was chaired by Wodonga man Kevin Keating.

Some believed a compromise would be the only way to resolve the issue, which has been wrestled with for the past 18 months.

Mitta Valley man Hugh Giltrap told the crowd Eskdale principal Julie King had been in discussions with Wodonga Middle Years College in recent days and that if the Mitta school stopped housing classes, it could be investigated as a host for year 9 Wodonga students to have week-long stays in years to come.

Other options explored last night included the continuation of the present rotation system, in which students spend six months of each year at Eskdale and the remainder at Mitta.

But objectors said that system was unlikely to be viable into the future and put undue stresses on the students.

Peter Beggs asked the community to do all it could to keep Mitta’s school running.

“We know numbers of students are down at the present time but there is no way of knowing how many there will be in a few years’ time,” he wrote in a letter distributed among those at last night’s meeting.

“Numbers have always fluctuated at the two schools.

“Our three boys went through the Mitta school without any ill effect ... from lack of social interaction with other children.”

A small contingent of the crowd representing the Eskdale community, asked that the parents’ vote be respected.

The meeting had been designed for Mitta and Dartmouth residents, with a sign at the Mitta store asking only those groups attend