Those who did attend Tuesday night’s School District 20 (SD 20) Community Focus Group Meeting commented on the disappointing turnout, but that didn’t stop constructive discussion with the public and SD 20 employees.
Approximately 30 people came to discuss the Planning For The Future document, a suggested facilities plan that would see a number of schools in the district reconfigured or closed.
However, of those 30 people, only about a dozen were parents with children in SD 20. Others were principals, vice principals, city councillors or otherwise involved with the school system in some way.
Supt. Jean Borsa told the group while enrolment is declining, costs are going up with the implementation of full-day kindergarten in September and rising salaries.
“We’re not getting the funding to pay for all the salary increases for … staff over the last four years,” she said.
Borsa added seven full-time teachers might need to be hired due to full-day Kindergarten at a cost of $700,000.
There are additional costs as well, such as the $55,000 the district needs to pay to offset their carbon footprint.
But those at the meeting wanted to know why the main cost-saving measure presented was the closure of schools.
SD 20 officials weren’t answering such questions, but trustee Mickey Kinakin posed a question to one table of people: since the district has closed 13 schools since 1997, why isn’t it the richest district?
Most didn’t feel comfortable commenting on what should happen in Trail or Rossland as they didn’t have enough information, but facts and figures were provided on Castlegar schools to help move the process along.
If French immersion moved to Robson Community School, the school would be at 97 per cent capacity, and if Castlegar Primary School closed and the students were moved to Twin Rivers Elementary (thus making Twin Rivers a Kindergarten to Grade 7 school) capacity would be over 100 per cent and portables would have to be brought in.
Greg Luterbach, assistant superintendent, said the computer lab in Twin Rivers could be reconfigured to be a classroom and the staff parking lot may be used for portables with parking moved to Castlegar Primary School, as to not take away playing field space.
The majority of people said closing Blueberry Creek Community School shouldn’t be an option. With multiple programs from a number of ages being run out of that building, one person said it would be like “ripping the heart” out of the community.
Many commented that the online learners shouldn’t be moved to Castlegar Primary School, but rather to SHSS.
While it was clear those who attended the meeting would have rejected the entire Planning For The Future document had it been an option, one table demanded SD 20 staff and trustees announce the decision to close schools or not before elections in November.
Community Focus Group meetings continue this week in Trail and Rossland.
Staff will compile concerns brought forward by the public and trustees will take feedback into consideration before making any decisions.