School District No. 46 (SD46) is facing school reconfiguration, and superintendent Deborah Palmer is inviting the community to get involved in the resolution process. "It's exciting. It's a challenge and opportunity to find something that works for us," said Palmer. "Get on a committee," she said emphatically.
Palmer is insistent the solution to the schooling problem can be resolved in a creative and positive fashion if the community throws their personal expertise and ideas into the mix.
A combination of less government funding and decreasing enrollment along the Coast has forced administration and school board trustees to look at alternative options to the school system as the community knows it. Palmer said the Coast is in a unique position because many of the schools in the area have only around 100 students, while in other districts across the province, schools with 300 students were closed because they were no longer viable.
Palmer understands the value of having neighbourhood schools and is not keen to shut down any of SD46's schools. However, with the reality facing the Coast system, she said it might be time to redefine what a neighbourhood school is.
"K-12 schools are thriving around the province. We're just not used to that idea." Palmer said, "How much do we compromise education to keep a school open?"
By keeping a school open, with projections of only 45 students in some schools over the next few years, Palmer said costs would have to be cut in crucial areas that parents might not realize. According to Palmer, Madeira Park Elementary School will have no librarian next year and possibly no music teacher. Some schools will have to save money for teachers' salaries and school supplies by cutting the number of clerical and administrative staff. This could mean that schools share a principal and that there will be no receptionist to take phone calls to let students know mom or dad will be late picking them up. As soon as some schools have to make these hard-line decisions, Palmer said, "education becomes inequitable across the region."
One option to level the playing field that rose out of feedback from community forums co-sponsored by the SD46 and the Sunshine Coast Teachers' Association is the idea of creating middle schools on the Coast. The proposal, which can be found on the SD46 website at www.sd46.bc.ca, suggested moving students at Gibsons and Kinnikinnick elementary schools elsewhere and turning those buildings into Grade 7 to 9 middle schools.
Boosting enrollment numbers at the elementary age would result in better use of the money allocated to them by the government, which is based on head count. Another benefit is the focus middle schools would have on young adolescents who are going through one of the toughest stages in their social, physical and emotional development said Palmer.
A study done by the National Middle School Association (NMSA) found that a drop in school performance and interest in school often mark this age group, which results in greater dropout numbers down the road, a trend that Palmer is seeing here on the Coast. The NMSA study shows that middle schools offer staff an opportunity to tap into that particular age group in a meaningful and creative way that the high school format does not. Outdoor education is one such focus that Palmer said the community has shown a lot of interest in making a part of the curriculum.
Palmer and SD46 board chair Silas White want the public to know that the middle school proposal is just that, a proposal. Unlike most districts that have little time to give notice when closing schools, Palmer said, "We are in a luxury position to have a year to make this decision. This is not a done deal."
Committees comprised of parents, caregivers, teachers and community members will start up in September. With municipal elections in November, it means possibly a new board of trustees will be responsible for the final decision about what to do with the schooling crisis. Those decisions will have to be made around Christmas 2008 as the budget for staffing will come due in February 2009 followed by posting of teachers and staff in April for the fall school year of 2009/10.
