North Okanagan-Shuswap School District officials insist they aren’t forcing anything on to Enderby students and parents.
On Tuesday, about 100 people attended a consultation session on possibly restructuring schools in the Enderby area and some suggested the district has already made a decision.
“If this was a done deal, we’d be home watching bad hockey,” said Mike McKay, trustee.
The lighting rod was that the meeting was promoted as specifically focused on one option — either shifting Grade 6 and 7 students from M.V. Beattie Elementary to A.L. Fortune Secondary or just Grade 7 students to ALF.
“Option four is being rammed down our throats. Grade 7 students are going into high school,” said parent Justin Baird.
However, McKay insisted that the school district session was based purely on procedure.
“All of the other options can happen based on recommendations from staff. Option four is the only one that triggers consultation (under legislation),” said McKay.
“Everything else (other options) could have been done bureaucratically and people notified, and that’s not fair either.”
The other options include installing two portable classrooms at Beattie, declaring Beattie full and returning all out of catchment students to their home schools, and redrawing the catchment areas to increase enrolment at Grindrod and Ranchero elementary schools.
According to the district, M.V. Beattie will be beyond capacity in 2017/18 as a kindergarten to Grade 7 school (343 students). Under the current mandate, it is estimated to require 15 classrooms but it only has 13 classes.
The primary reasons for the situation are growth in Enderby and new language in the teachers’ contract on class sizes.
McKay admits he has reservations about spending $200,000 each on two or three portables.
“My inclination is not to use money that could go into programs,” he said.
It was clear from many parents in the audience that they don’t support moving Grade 6 and 7 students to ALF.
“Having 10 and 11-year-old kids going to school with raging hormones doesn’t make sense,” said one man.
“It’s not about drugs, alcohol and sex. It’s the maturity level of a Grade 6 child being there,” added another.
The prospect of elementary students also raised concerns for ALF teachers and what it would mean for the self-directed curriculum model and an already busy facility.
“Our trades program and hockey academy are drawing students from Armstrong and Salmon Arm,” said teacher Michelle Reed.
ALF’s enrolment as a Grade 6 to 12 school would be 301 and 259 with Grades 7 to 12 (213 from Grades 8 to 12).
Some parents suggested solutions to over-capacity at M.V. Beattie such as expanding the elementary school, relocating the StrongStart program to Grindrod to create space and encouraging more parents to send their kids to Grindrod.
Grindrod has 73 students and could fit an additional 50 children.
“We do a lot of enhanced learning,” said Jeff Abbott, Grindrod principal.
The prospect of maximizing all available rooms at Beattie was also mentioned but that could impact the music room and other areas. However, that concept raised concerns.
“It has to be more than space. It has to be about the quality of education,” said parent Sheryl Hay.
Parents requested another consultation meeting and it will be held April 24 at 7 p.m. at ALF.
“You are making important suggestions and challenging some of our assumptions. That’s good,” said McKay.
An outcome on restructuring is expected May 15.
“I will make a decision based on all kinds of feedback and evolution of ideas,” said McKay.
