Just as parents and students in Sechelt and Davis Bay were preparing for their schools to be closed, the board of trustees for School District No. 46 (SD46) pulled a bait and switch this week.
After almost a year of discussion, public meetings and debate, no schools will be closed; rather, students currently at Sechelt Elementary will be transferred to Kinnikinnick Elementary starting in September while repairs and seismic upgrades are done in Sechelt. Davis Bay Elementary will remain open. While we're sure there is a little relief by some parents that Sechelt and Davis Bay will not be permanently closed, does this solution really solve the problem?
The new funding structure, with annexed small schools pooling their budgets with large schools, will perhaps distribute funding more equally, but it's still coming from the same small - and shrinking - pot.
If Davis Bay operates as a K to Grade 5 school next year, with three classes and 75 students, it will be little more than a one-room school house. Quaint and picturesque as that may be, it's a dubious educational choice for 2010, when most Canadian children get full-time principals in their schools and many have the privilege of full-time librarians and music programs, which likely won't be the case with this school model.
It's also disheartening for the Sechelt students, who are kind of the forgotten stepchildren in all of this.
If Davis Bay and Sechelt had both been closed, all students and staff would have been amalgamated into a new school community at Kinnikinnick, and the school culture would have been very different. There would have been a chance to develop the new school environment - together, maybe rename the school - and create a unique "community school." Now you'll have 70 or so children who will be thrown into a new situation at a new school with children who are already established. It just doesn't seem fair, certainly not to the parents and students from Sechelt.
And what of the money for the seismic upgrades and funding from the Ministry of Education that SD46 hopes to get? Sure, they're on the books, but can we really trust the provincial government to follow through on its funding obligations, given its track record? The budget comes down March 2, and early indications are that it will not paint a pretty picture.
What happens if the provincial government doesn't come through? Will we have to go through this whole process again? Will we have to reconsider closing Sechelt and Davis Bay? As painful as it was to think about closing two schools, that was the way to go. Trustees may have saved the schools for now, but it's a decision they may later regret.
